Winans, Lewis bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 933-934, Vermont Township
Lewis Winans, deceased, was the son of Mahlon and Elizabeth Winans. He was born in Seneca Falls, N. Y., April 21, 1826; was brought to Illinois in 1831, and ten years later left home to do for himself. He first learned the wagon-making trade; he quit this and engaged as clerk in a dry-goods store at Canton. In 1846 he embarked in business at Vermont in connection with H. R. Smith. Mr. S. was killed shortly afterward and the business was settled up, and Mr. W. entered the services of Mr. Lynn of Vermont as clerk, with whom he remained til 1849, when, in company with J. H. B. Stevens and S. Heizer, he again embarked in the mercantile business. In the fall of the same year he was married to Miss Sarah M. Scott. In 1867 he engaged in business at Vermont alone, and continued until Dec., 1874, when, on account of ill-health, he retired from active life, and July 9, 1875, he died. He was a zealous and devout member of the Presbyterian Church, and a man loved and respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Winans resides at Galesburg. Their children living are Ross, who lives at Canton, Fannie, the wife of Esquire J. R. Rothman, Table Grove, Myron, Lou, Henry, George and Charlie.