WINSTON, ANTHONY. "Captain Anthony Winston, of Hanover County, Virginia, a member of the Virginia convention of 1775, and a gallant captain in the Revolutionary army lies buried in the old Winston family burying ground just out of Sheffield, Alabama. Vol. xiii, Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Book, states that Anthony Winston was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1750, married Keziah Jones and died in Alabama in 1828. He was a delegate from Buckingham County to the convention of 1775; he afterwards served in the militia and rose to the rank of captain. Brewer's Alabama says that 'he was a colonial officer of 1776 and the owner of the celebrated Portuguese giant, Peter Francisco. Capt. Winston removed first to Tennessee and subsequently settled in Madison County, Alabama. about the year 1810. He was a man of marked and elevated character.' He died in 1828. He left seven sons, Anthony, John J., William, Joel W., Isaac, Edmund and Thomas J., and two daughters, Mrs. John Pettus (Alice T.) and Mrs. Jesse Jones. Capt. Winston was nearly related to Patrick Henry (a first cousin) and distinction is hereditary in the Winston family. He has many honored descendants; one of his grandsons was Governor John Anthony Winston of Sumter, the 'first native born governor of Alabama.' Another grandson is General Edmund Winston Pettus, now senator in the United States Congress. Another distinguished grandson was the brother of Gen. Pettus, Governor John J. Pettus, the war governor of Mississippi. Other descendants of Capt. Anthony Winston are scattered all over the Southwest, filling honorable positions with credit.
      "The ancestry of Capt. Winston is thus given: Slaughter's St. Mark's Parish states that Isaac Winston, the most remote ancestor, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1620. A grandson of his pursued his fortunes in Wales, where he had a large family. Three of his sons emigrated to America, and settled near Richmond, Va., in 1704.
Their names were William, Isaac and James.  Anthony Winston was descended from Isaac.
      "(1) Isaac Winston, the emigrant, married Mary Dabney and died
in Hanover County in 1760, leaving six children, William, Isaac, Anthony,
Lucy, Mary Ann and Sarah. Sarah was the mother of Patrick Henry.
      "(2) Anthony Winston (son of Isaac) married Alice, daughter of
Col. James Taylor of Caroline; issue: Sarah, died single; Capt. Anthony Winston; Alice, married Judge Edmund Winston; Mary.
      "We are indebted to Gen. Edmund Pettus, of the United States
Senate, for the following facts, and a copy of the inscription upon the tombstone:

     "They were buried at the family burying ground on the plantation of their son, Anthony Winston, about one mile from Tuscumbia, in Colbert County, in the direction of Sheffield. Anthony Winston, here mentioned on this tombstone, was the son of Anthony Winston of Hanover County, Virginia, who was born September 29th, 1723, and married February 29th, 1747, Alice Taylor, daughter of James Taylor and Alice Thornton. He was born in Hanover County, but moved in his young days to Buckingham County, Virginia. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War. He was married in 1776, and went into the army a few months afterwards.
      "The family has now in their possession a counterpane made of cotton which Mrs. Keziah Winston raised. She picked the cotton, spun the thread and wove the cloth, and then ornamented it by needle work like a Marseilles counterpane, whilst her husband was in the army. This old heirloom is perfectly preserved, and looks as well as it ever did but, of course, it is not used.
      "Anthony Winston told his grandchildren many things about the Revolutionary War, and particularly about General Washington. Some of these stories would not do to print, especially about the freedom with which 'The Father of his Country' used the English language. But in his estimation no mortal man ever approximated General Washington as a great military chieftain. Sarah Winston, of Hanover, was the sister of Anthony Winston, of Hanover. She married John Henry and was the mother of Patrick Henry. Capt. Anthony Winston was sheriff of Buckingham County, Virginia, which office at that time was given to the oldest justice of the peace of the county for one term, under the law of Virginia. At time time a justice of the peace in Virginia received no pay, the principal business of that officer being to settle disputes among his neighbors without any lawsuit.
      "Alice Winston, the mother of Gen. Pettus, was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, but her father moved with his family about the beginning of the last century to Davidson County, Tennessee, and owned a plantation there, about one mile from the Hermitage. John
Pettus was born in Fluvanna County, Virginia, near where Anthony Winston lived. He also moved to Davidson County, Tennessee, about the first of the last century. Alice Winston and John Pettus were married in Davidson County in 1807, and General Jackson danced at the wedding. And in the early days of Senator Pettus he was frequently at the 'Hermitage' and heard General Jackson tell of the early life of his mother and father,  and of his father's serving in the Creek War under him."

Mrs. P. H. Mell in Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society,
Vol. iv, pp. 569-572.

>From - http://www.archives.state.al.us/al_sldrs/w_list.html

Back to main index