John Winegar

This John might be the same as his brother Johannes "Hans".

However, he is treated as being different in: Genealogy of the Winegar family, compiled by Ira Winegar of Middlebury, Indiana, and published after June 25, 1855:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~springport/winega...

John will be next in order, and but for the great accident that befell him in freezing both his feet in a most shocking manner, which made him a cripple for life, I should, for the want of information pass him over by saying very little. At any early day, when he was in the prime of life, he settled in the town of Lee, Berkshire county, Mass., where some of his descendants live until this day. What particular business he followed there, whether his mechanical business or farming, I do not know. He, like his brother Hendrick, could do or make anything he turned his mind to; but his principal trade was a millwright, at which very few, if any, excelled him in his day. The country was new where he lived, and game plenty, and like many others he was a great hunter.

The following narrative of the calamity that befell him, I will here give as I have always heard it from my father and my worthy aunt Sophronia Karner. He started one morning on a hunting excursion in company with an Indian. After traveling on some distance, they separated, and were to meet again at a certain place agreed upon. After they had separated a short time, he shot and brought down a buck; and while in the act of cutting the throat of the animal, he sprang up and made off. John followed on his track, which was plainly marked by his blood, expecting every moment to find him. He continued to follow until late in the afternoon, when he was compelled to abandon the chase; and when he turned his thoughts towards home, he found he was completely lost. Then turning his attention to a resting-place for the night, he fixed a bed of evergreens, etc.; and after long and fruitless efforts to make a fire, he laid himself down to sleep.

In his exertions to start a fire, he cut out all his pockets and destroyed nearly every vestige of linen about him, and consumed nearly all his powder. I have never understood that he was at all frozen the first night. The next morning he started again for home, the cold increasing. He traveled all day in the storm, and at or near night found himself at the very spot where he started from in the morning. Exhausted with fatigue and hunger, he again laid himself on his cold bed for another night. This was the fatal night to him. He arose in the morning, and with what little strength he had pursued his dismal journey. The Indian before mentioned reached the spot agreed upon, and after waiting as long as he could, returned to his home.

The alarm of his absence and supposed death spread through the settlements, and large parties started in pursuit in different directions, and fortunately, near nightfall, he was found by a party of men on horseback, some ten miles from home, so exhausted with cold, hunger and exertion that he could not travel to exceed four or five rods without resting. It being late, the party were compelled to encamp for the night. The next morning he was put upon a horse and conveyed home. He was so badly frozen that both feet were taken off about midway between his ankles and toes. After intense suffering for many months, he recovered.

Of his after life I know but little, except that he lived many years, and although a cripple, followed his millwright business. He died in Lee, but at what time I do not know. I have always been told, however, that he was the second one (except Gideon, the infant) that died out of the family.

Of his wife I know nothing, and of his children but little. I have seen two of them -- Mr. Samuel Winegar, who then lived somewhere near Oneida Lake, and Mrs. Barret, who lived and died in Ridgway, Orleans county, N.Y. [I have seen a son (Luther Barret) of Mrs. Barret; I saw him in DeRuyter, Madison county. He married a daughter of Benjamin Mitchell. -- C. Winegar.]

Age 55 years, 2 months.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 15 2022, 16:34:14 UTC