Peter  Winterrowd


          PETER  WINTERROWD, a prominent resident and farmer of Jackson Township, was born July 9, 1824, in Warren County, Ohio.  His parents were Jacob and Jane (Anderson) Winterrowd, natives of Pennsulvania, the former of German descent, and the latter of Scotch-Irish extraction.  They were married in Warren County, Ohio, about 1823, and were in poor circumstances.  Accordingly they determined to seek a home in the west, and about the middle of December, 1824, he loaded his household goods, with his young wife and infant son, into a two-horse wagon, and started for Shelby County, Ind.  Here they landed, December 25, in what is now known as Washington Township, but then as Noble Township, near the bluffs of Flatrock, or about one mile east of Flatrock.  His brother Joseph, and family also came at the same time, and located near.  He entered 160 acres of wild land, put up a cabin, and began to make a home in the forest.  Thus we find Jacob Winterrowd among the first settlers of the county.  After a residence here of five years, or on April 22, 1829, when he had thirty acres cleared, he was called away.  A kind and indulgent father was gone, and the widowed mother and children mourned his loss.  Peter was then five years of age.  He had two sisters, Matilda and Belinda.  Mrs. Winterrowd continued to reside on the farm and care for her children.  The pioneer schools of that day were of the old type, and scarce.  Mrs. Winterrowd was desirous that her children should obtain as good an education as her means and that day afforded.  The district school was the only resort, and our subject, by strict attention to his books, acquired an education sufficient to enable him in after years to successfully teach in the public schools of the county.  He remained at home until his maturity, when he began life on his own responsibility.  On October 24, 1849, he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Hageman, born near Mt. Auburn, Shelby County, March 7, 1825.  Her parents were Peter and Clarissa (Dorsey) Hageman, who were among the pioneers of Jackson Township, settling here in 1823, and locating on what is to-day known as the Lewis Nieble farm, south of Mt. Auburn.  Mrs. Winterrowd has spent her entire life here, and has witnessed a great change in this country.  Her parents resided here until their deaths.  Mr. and Mrs. Winterrowd were blessed with nine children:  Walter S.,  Phebe J.,  George W.,  Clara L.,  Peter A.,  Julia M.,  Samaria C.,  David S.,  and  Jacob G., of whom Walter S., Samaria C. and Jacob G. are deceased, the rest have all grown to maturity.  Politcally, Mr. Winterrowd is a Republican, but has never sought political honors.  Peter Winterrowd, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, where he was reared and married, and in 1808 emigrated to Warren County, Ohio, where he resided until his death, which occurred about 1842.  Jacob, the father of our subject, was born January 8, 1798, in Pennsylvania, and therefore ten years of age when his father removed to Ohio.  Jane Anderson, the wife of  Jacob Winterrowd, and mother of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, August 2, 1802, and accompanied her parents to Warren County, Ohio, in 1811, where she was reared.  Jacob Winterrowd was called away April 22, 1829.  The mother of our subject, Jane Winterrowd after the death of her husband, added forty acres of land to the tract he had entered, paying government price for it, or $50.  She was called away February, 1872.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Brant & Fuller, pg 682-3, "Jackson [County] Sketches".
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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