NEWTON HORACE WINCHELL:

Newton Horace Winchell was born in North East, Dutchess County, New York, on December 17, 1839. He was the son of Horace and Caroline (McAllister) Winchell.

From 1855 to 1857, Winchell taught school in various towns in New York State. In the spring of 1857, he joined his brother, Alexander, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He later attended the University of Michigan, receiving his degree in 1866. In the years before the Civil War he was superintendent of schools in St. Clair, Michigan, and was also a member of the Michigan Geological Survey. He was a lieutenant in the Civil War, although he never saw service because of illness.

From 1866 to 1872 he was superintendent of schools and a school principal in Port Huron, Michigan. Also, at this time, he joined his brother, Alexander, on the Michigan Geological Survey.

In 1872, he was appointed state geologist of Minnesota, a position which he held until 1900. During this period he conducted many surveys of Minnesota and prepared his findings for publication.

In 1900, he became archaeologist of the Minnesota Historical Society and at this time published his volume, The Aborigines of Minnesota.

Winchell was engaged in many other enterprises. In 1874 he was the geologist on the survey of the Black Hills, led by General George A. Custer, and in 1888 he and his brother, Alexander, and others established the publication American Geologist. He was also a member of many scientific organizations and received a number of awards for his scientific contributions.

Winchell married Charlotte Sophie Imus on August 24, 1864. At the time, she was on the faculty of Alboin College (Alboin, Michigan). The following children were born·to the couple: Horace Vaughn, Ima Caroline, Avis, Alexander Newton, and Louise. Horace Vaughn and Alexander Newtonwere also prominent geologists. Avis Winchell married Ulysses Sherman Grant, son of Lewis Addison Grant, a prominent Minneapolis businessman.

A genealogical chart is attached below:

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The early papers, 1814 through the 1850s, relate mainly to Horace Winchell. There are letters written by and to Horace Winchell from his parents and other members of his family. In the 1820s there is correspondence between Winchell and Caroline McAllister, whom he married in 1823.

A number of paper bound writing books, essays and similar papers written by Horace's sister Clarissa are found in the papers dated from 1837 to 1841. Other items of interest are printed programs of exercises held by the Classical School of North East, New York, in which various members of the Winchell family participated.

From the 1850s the papers relate mainly to Newton H. Winchell and his family. Papers in the 1850s include poems written by members of the Imus family, teaching contracts issued to Charlotte Imus and to Newton H. Winchell, and a number of letters written to Charlotte Imus from friends and relatives in Michigan and Shaftsbury, Vermont. These letters give data on social life, church work, and news of family and friends. In the 1850s Charlotte Imus was teaching at Alboin Academy in Alboin, Michigan.

The Charlotte Imus correspondence continues through the Civil War period. There are a few letters relating directly to the war. They were written in 1861 by C.S. Chapman and Charles Denovan, who were former students of Charlotte Imus. The letters were written from Alexandria, Virginia, and Camp Wilcox, Virginia.

In 1864, Newton H. Winchell was engaged in a number of geological surveys in Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota. While on these surveys, he wrote a number of letters to his wife in which he described his work on the surveys and the cities and towns he visited. There is also some family data in these letters.

The papers from the 1870s through the 1890s relate to Newton H. Winchell and his wife. There is information on Mrs. Winchell's activities in the Women's Foreign Missionary Association (First Methodist Church, Minneapolis), the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Minneapolis School Board, and her trips to France (February-April 1896).

There are a great many congratulatory letters written to Newton H. Winchell on the publication of his geological survey of Minnesota. Other letters relating to Newton H. Winchell describe his attempts to secure the Sturgis-Hooper professorship of geology at Harvard, the professorship of mineralogy and petrography at the University of Toronto, and an appointment to the Panama Canal Commission.

The papers in the late 1890s and after 1900 include data on the children of Newton H. Winchell. There are letters (1904-1909) written by Horace V., who at that time was in Butte, Montana, and in Germany.

Other materials in the papers are: letters written to Mrs. Winchell, relating to the Foreign Missionary Association (1901), letters written by Mrs. Winchell to her niece, Mabel (1908-1909), letters to Mrs. Winchell while she was at the Mayo Clinic (1910), and items collected by the King's Daughters organization and presented to Mrs. Winchell on her 77th birthday (1913).

The papers (1920 through 1958) also contain miscellaneous family data: Letters to Mrs. Newton H. Winchell, the celebration of the 154th anniversary of the St. John's Methodist Church of New York, memorial program to Newton H. Winchell given by the Geological Society of Minnesota (1941), and correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to Alexander N. Winchell (1939-1958).

Items of particular interest in the correspondence and miscellaneous papers section are: Civil War illustrated letterhead (July 6, 1861); patent medicine advertisement (October 22, 1871); letter from Richard Owen, New Harmony, Indiana (December 1, 1885); letter from Henry Youle Hind (April 24, 1886); two letters to John S. Pillsbury and one letter to John Lind from Newton Winchell concerning his geological studies for the State of Minnesota. Detailed reports are attached to these letters (December, 1889); letters from Lucius L. Hubbard, State Geologist of Michigan concerning his resignation from the post (February 1899); L.S. from Herbert Hoover. At the time, Hoover was on an engineering project in China (January 8, 1900); and a number of letters from Warren Upham (1902-1905).

One folder contains the following genealogical and biographical data: genealogical notes on the Mills, Hartwell, Lawrence and Winchell families; genealogy of the Winchell family prepared by Alexander Winchell (1867); a sketch of Newton H. Winchell written in (1884); "A Collision and its Consequences. A Recollection of Contingencies, August 24, 1886." A chart of the Newton H. Winchell family; biographical sketches of Newton H., Horace V. and Ida Belle Winchell (1897-1902); printed biographical sketches of Newton H. Winchell and other members of the family, (1923); and a biography of Charlotte Winchell (1926).

There are also many articles, essays, speeches, notes and similar material, kept by the following members of the Winchell family: James M., Horace, Newton H., Mrs. Newton H., Horace V., and Alexander N. One item of particular interest is a folder containing notes kept by Horace Winchell while on a trip to California (1849-1850). The notes describe his trip by schooner, around South America, an account of a stay at Valpariso, Chile, conditions in California during the gold rush, and his return trip to New York.

Lastly, the papers include academic certificates and citations, drawings, sketches and similar papers, created by or for members of the Winchell family.

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These papers are organized into the following five sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Newton Horace Winchell and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 1768; 1778 D13; 1911 D; 1995; 2624; 3096; 3381; 8343; 8573; 8608; 8864; 9970; 11,281; 16,472

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017337170104294

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The papers of Newton's brother, Alexander Winchell, were transferred to the Michigan Historical Collections, Ann Arbor. Newton's correspondence, notes, and manuscripts as archaeologist of the Minnesota Historical Society (1906-1914) are in the MHS archives.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Copper mines and mining -- Montana.

Education -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Education -- United States.

Geological cross sections -- Alabama -- Alabama River.

Geological cross sections -- Michigan.

Geological cross sections -- New York (State)

Geology -- Alaska.

Geology -- Michigan.

Geology -- Minnesota.

Geology -- Montana.

Geology -- New Mexico.

Geology -- Ohio.

Geology -- Oregon.

Geology -- South Dakota.

Gold mines and mining -- California.

Iron mines and mining -- Minnesota.

Lectures and lecturing -- United States.

Meteors.

Mines and mineral resources -- Canada.

Mines and mineral resources -- Montana.

Mines and mineral resources -- Nevada.

Mines and mineral resources -- Utah.

Museums -- Designs and plans.

Museums -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor.

Religion.

Persons:

Fearing, Frederick C., author.

Hartwell family.

Hind, Henry Youle, 1823-1908, author.

Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964, author.

Hubbard, Lucius L. (Lucius Lee), 1849-1933, author.

Imus family.

Lawrence family.

Mills family.

Nicollet, J. N. (Joseph Nicholas), 1786-1843.

Winchell family.

Winchell, Alexander Newton, 1874-1958, author.

Winchell, Alexander, 1824-1891, author.

Winchell, Caroline McAllister, 1806-1892, author.

Winchell, Charlotte Sophie Imus, 1836-1926, author.

Winchell, Clarissa, 1827-1842, author.

Winchell, Horace V. (Horace Vaughn), 1865-1923, author.

Winchell, Horace, 1796-1873, author.

Winchell, Martin Ebenezer, 1765-1828, author.

Winchell, Martin Ebenezer, 1829-1864, author.

Organizations:

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Alboin Academy (Alboin, Mich.)

Amenia Seminary (Amenia, N.Y.)

American Association for the Advancement of Science.

American Philosophical Society.

First Methodist Episcopal Church (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Koochiching Company (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Minnesota Mining Company.

University of Michigan.

University of Minnesota.

Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.)

Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

Places:

Connecticut -- Social life and customs.

Europe -- Description and travel.

Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Social life and customs.

Rainy River (Minn. and Ont.) -- Power utilization.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Vermont.

Document Types:

Architectural drawings.

Degrees, Academic.

Diaries.

Essays.

Genealogies.

History.

Letterheads.

Maps.

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