MRS. A. G. M. WINTERS

Angie Gertrude Michener, a well-known pioneer teacher of Shelby County, was born in Morrow County, Ohio, June 16, 1844. Her father, Daniel Miçhener, belonged to the Society of Friends, and was noted for his genial disposition, his integrity of character, and his devotion to the cause of education. Death called him to the other side when the subject of this sketch was less than two years old. Her mother, Mary (Havens) Michener, was of good Presbyterian stock, in whose family ministers and physicians predominated. When a child Angie G. Winters and her only sister were taken by their mother to Indiana, which was then considered the wild west, and settlers had to endure many hardships. Schools were few and very inferior, but the mother, being a woman of unusual ability and liberal education, did much for her children to supplement their limited educational advantages. When twelve years old Angie became lame from blood-poisoning.

When thirteen years old her parents removed to Tipton, Iowa. Here were better schools, but owing to her lameness, which lasted five years, she could attend school but little. Always a lover of books, she determined not to be left behind in the race for knowledge. Studying at home, with the assistance of her mother, she kept far in advance of other girls of her age, often studying hard to divert her mind during hours of extreme pain. In quite early childhood Angie determined to be a schoolma'am, and as she grew older she realized more and more the dignity and responsibility resting upon those who mold the plastic minds of youth. During her career as a teacher she was very conscientious, trying to educate the heart as well as the head. Being full of a missionary spirit, she did a great deal of evangelistic work wherever she taught school. Inheriting a talent for nursing the sick, she was in great demand in cases of sickness and accidents. One time she was called to treat a case of delirium tremens, and another time to stop a serious hemorrhage. In the spring of 1861 she came to Harlan, where she taught her first school in the old brick school-house. The wages received were $10 per month, with the privilege of boarding around, a favor not accepted. No two pupils had the same kind of text-books; new ones could not be procured nearer than Council Bluffs, and most of the patrons were too poor to buy new ones, so the teaching was principally oral. In the fall of 1861 Miss Michener began teaching what was known as the Waterbury school, in Fairview Township; but exposure brought on rheumatic fever, from which she did not recover until the following June. The next ten years found her in the school-room.

In 1869 Miss Michener was united in marriage to Lorenzo L. Winters, a well-known farmer of Clay Township, a genuine Christian gentleman. Being wedded to her profession as an educator, Mrs. Winters continued teaching for two years. Her husband then went into business in Atlantic, Cass County. Here Mrs. Winters took charge of a class in Sabbath-school, superintended a Band of Hope, and taught a mission school in her own house. Always a strong advocate of total abstinence and equal suffrage, Mrs. Winters early identified herself with the woman's temperance movement. One of the first fruits of the great tidal wave of temperance that followed the woman's crusade, was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, in which Mrs. Winters was a leading spirit. A writer of some note, and having contributed to a score or more of papers, a fluent speaker, she now consecrated her talent and much of her time to the temperance cause. This she was enabled to do, having a husband in perfect sympathy with her, and having no children with whom to divide her time and attention.

In 1882, when the Dakota fever was at its height, Mr. and Mrs. Winters bade adieu to Cass County, Iowa, and journeyed to the land of the Dakotas. Here they began pioneer life anew, living for a time in a sod shanty on a claim which was called Glen Rose. In less than a month after taking possession, Mrs. Winters had gathered the children from three families, constituting the settlement, into a Sunday-school in her sod house. Fortunately it was a large one, for as the country settled rapidly the Sunday-school grew accordingly, people coming from every direction for miles around. For two years she resumed her place at the teacher's desk. One winter she rode two miles to school, where she would have to wait for a fire to be kindled every morning, with the thermometer often indicating twenty-five to thirty-five below zero. During all these years she had not forgotten the temperance cause, but with tongue and pen had done much to advance its cause.

Mr. Winters' failing health demanding lighter occupation, they left their ranch and took up their residence in Miller, Hand County. Here was an organization of the W. C. T. U., with which Mrs. Winters immediately united. She edited a temperance department of the Hand County Republican, and organized and superintended a Band of Hope. During the local option campaign of 1887, Mrs. Winters and a Mrs. Williams, of Miller, were employed by the County Temperance Alliance to canvass the county in the interests of prohibition. Their meetings were successful; besides the regulation campaign speeches, Mrs. Winters gave temperance chalk-talks. Mrs. Williams was a fine vocalist, and this accomplishment added greatly to the interest of the meetings. Soon after Mrs. Winters was appointed lecturer and organizer for the W. C. T. U., a position of more honor than pay.

Mr. and Mrs. Winters, having no children, have adopted two children, a son and a daughter, and have given them all the advantages possible. Mr. Winters' health continuing poor, they were advised to seek a milder clime, so they went to the Ozark region in western Missouri. In 1888 Mrs. Winters gave some temperance lectures and chalk-talks in Shelby County. At present she divides her time between the care of her husband and evangelistic work, hoping that at the last it may be said of her, "She hath done what she could."

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 305-306. Transcribed by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs.