Yesterday, I highlighted some people from the same family tree that spelled their surnames differently…Hadler and Hatler. Today, I will tell the story of a man who began his life with the surname Winter but other later documents and his gravestone give his surname as Winters. I have to wonder what inspired him to change his name.

Julius Christian Winter was born on February 24, 1886, so today would be his 138th birthday. Julius was the son of Ferdinand and Maria (Hoffmann) Winter. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is pictured here.

Julius was already a teenager when he is found in his first census entry in 1900. He was working with his father on his farm.

A year after the above census, Julius’s father died in 1901. His mother then married again in 1903. Her second husband was Henry Schulenburg. On January 7, 1907, Julius got married. His first wife was Mary M. Roth. I was unable to find out much about Mary. Julius and Mary were married in Perry County by a probate judge. A note is found on this form about Julius’s mother, Mary Schulenburg, giving her assent to this marriage.

This marriage did not last long. When Julius is found in the 1910 census, He was a 24 year-old working at odd jobs, and he was living with his grandmother in the Brazeau Township. The marriage status column had a “D” for divorced.

Julius married again during the next decade, so we will now take a look at his 2nd wife. Her name was Bertha Lee Reynolds, who was born on March 31, 1893. Bertha was the daughter of Andrew and Isabelle “Bell” (Henderson) Reynolds. She was born in the Saline County in Illinois. Bertha is found in the 1900 census at the age of 7. Her father was a farmer in the Stonefort Township in Saline County.

Next, we find Bertha in the 1910 census still living with her parents. This time, it says her father was a lumberman for a saw mill.

On Bertha’s Findagrave.com site, we find the following information about her marriages. It says she married a man named John Louis Summers in 1912. I was unable to find out much information about Bertha’s first husband. The information below also mentions 2 children born during Bertha’s first marriage.

I do not know if John Summers died or his marriage ended in a divorce. Then, Julius Winter married Bertha Summers on August 23, 1916. Once again, his wedding was performed not by a minister, but by a judge. This time, the probate judge was Adolph Schmidt from Altenburg. The license says both Julius and Bertha were from Altenburg.

Shortly after Julius got married, he had his World War I draft registration completed. It said he was a farmer in the same township in which Bertha was born and raised. By the way, this document still uses the spelling, Winter, for Julius.

Based on family trees found on Ancestry.com, I think Julius and Bertha had 6 children together. The 1920 census shows them living in Carrier Mills, Illinois where Julius was a coal miner. There was 1 Winter child and 2 Summers children in the household. In this census, we see that Julius’s surname is spelled as Winters.

The map below displays that Carrier Mills is located in the southern part of Illinois, almost due east from Perryville.

Next, we find the Winters household in the 1930 census. This time, there were 4 Winters children along with the 2 Summers stepchildren.

The 1940 census shows that both Julius and his son, Rudolph, were working in a coal mine.

Julius was required to complete a World War II draft card in 1942. Although we have seen several census entries that spell his name as Winters, this is the first official document that uses that spelling. Julius was employed by the Wasson Coal Mine in Carrier Mills.

The last census entry we are allowed to view was the one taken in 1950. Right below Julius’s household, you can see that of Dorris Winters, his son, who had married Edna Davis in 1946.

Bertha Winters died in 1964 at the age of 71; Julius Winters died in 1965 at the age of 79. Julius and Bertha are buried in the Providence Cemetery in Carrier Mills. Their gravestone is one of those that has a photograph of the couple on it. It is the only photo I located for either Julius or Bertha, but it is too small to really see what they looked like.

I think Bertha Reynolds is the star of today’s post. When she was first married, she became Bertha Summers. Then she became Bertha Winters. And, if Bertha was ever called Bert, then she would also have been a Bert Reynolds during her early years before she was married.

In closing, let me comment that on my way home from breakfast at the Old Bank Coffee Shop this morning, the song being sung in the video below was on the radio. I figure it was an Act of God that I heard this song about a coal miner on a morning when I was writing Julius’s story, so I figure I’d better share it with you too.