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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Surname Saturday: Winters


The surname Winters has multiple origins. According to the Internet Surname Database, it was originally a nickname for "someone of a frosty or gloomy temperament." Wintr was the word for "winter" in Old English, Middle High German, and Norse. It is also an ornamental surname that was given to Ashkenazi Jews in Germany. It can also be an Irish surname that comes from the Gaelic Mac Giolla Gheimhridh. Gheimhridh means "winter." Irish Ancestors contains information from the surname dictionary Sloinnte na hÉireann, which states that the surname Winters is numerous in Counties Armagh, Down, Monaghan, and Tyrone. In The Surnames of Ireland, 6th ed. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1985), Edward MacLysaght states that in County Tyrone, Winters is used as a synonym of MacAlivery (Mac Giolla Gheimhridh).

My known Winters ancestors are:

2nd-great-grandmother: Catherine Elizabeth Winters
born 12 November 1861, Tonawanda, Erie County, New York
married James Graham (my 2nd-great-grandfather)
married James Mapplebeck 20 November 1885, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
died 4 March 1942, St. Louis, Missouri

3rd-great-grandfather: John Bennet Winters
born 19 December 1831, Leith, Midlothian, Scotland
married Anna Walker (my 3rd-great-grandmother) 10 October 1859, Tonawanda, Erie County, New York
married Elizabeth Buise 18 May 1878, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
died 25 December 1879, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

4th-great-grandfather: Hugh Winters
born about 1810, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland
married Mary Bennet (my 4th-great-grandmother) 24 January 1831, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
married Eliza
died 7 February 1887, Flatbush, Kings County, New York

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