Winfield Scott Tintle

GEDCOM Note

Winfield Scott Tintle was born September 19, 1877. He was pre-deceased by his wife, Jane (Phoebe Jane Weatherwalks). He lived in Pompton Plains, and Bergenfield, New Jersey until his wife died. Then he went to live with his sister Laura Vanderbeek and her family.

Uncle Win was a farmer and ran the farm the Vanderbeeks had on Meadow Street, Demarest, New Jersey. He also worked delivering coal for Christie Supply Company, in Bergenfield until he retired. He died October 18, 1954 of Cancer. He is buried in the Pompton Lakes Reformed Church Cemetery, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

Uncle Win and Aunt Jane had fory daughters, born as two sets of twins. All four girls died either at birth or shortly after.

MY MEMORIES OF UNCLE WIN

I remember Uncle Win as being about 5'7" tall and never weighing more than about 130 - 140 lbs. ( I never knew Aunt Jane, but pictures show her to be a big woman, taller and much heavier than Uncle Win.)

Uncle Win had no formal education and could neither read or write. He signed his name with an "X", as did many people of his generation. But even with his lack of formal education he was a very intelligent man and had no trouble holding a conversation on most world topics. He was of the generation when radios were the means of bringing world news and events into the home and he enjoyed listening to the news and would retain what he heard for later discussions.

Uncle Win loved animals and was the primary care giver for the cows, horses, chickens, ducks, etc. that we had on the farm on Meadow Street. He taught me to milk cows, a chore I'll never forget.

I'll also remember Uncle Win for the way he pulled his chair up to the side of the radiator that was in the kitchen on Meadow Street. He would sit there for hours, leaning against the radiator no matter how much clothes he had on he liked the extra heat to keep him warm. Then in the summer when it was hot he would still wear the same amount of clothes he wore in the winter. His philosophy was, "What keeps out the cold also keeps the heat out."

By the time I was old enough to really know Uncle Win, he was in his sixties and by then he only had two teeth left in the front of his mouth, one up and one down. No matter how the family tried to get him to get false teeth or eye glasses he wouldn't. Again he would comment, "If God had wanted him to have a second set of either he would have been furnished with them at birth." And to this day forty years after his death I can still picture Uncle Win eating steak and corn on the cob with only his two front teeth and doing just great.

My last great memory of Winfield Scott Tintle is from September 1954. Joe Spencer and I had decided to get married December 26, 1954 and when we told Uncle Win and told him we wanted him at our wedding, his reply shocked both Joe and I. He said "I won't make your wedding but I want you to promise me no matter what happens you will not change or postpone the wedding date." Uncle Win died October 18, 1954, just about a month after Joe and I spoke with him and when we spoke to him he wasn't sick.

Winfield Scott Tintle was a wonderful person and I feel very fortunate to have known him.