The following biographical sketch is adapted from
the LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 4, p.692
Hiram Winters [also called Winter in the History of the
Church], a member of Zion's Camp, was born April 5, 1805, near Westfield,
Washington Co., N, Y. He removed with his parents to Seneca County and
afterwards settled in Jamestown, N.Y., where he married Rebecca Burdick,
a sister of Alden Burdick. Rebecca bore him six children.
He was baptized by Lyman
R. Sherman in June, 1833, and in the fall of that year moved to Kirtland,
Ohio. The next year he joined Zion's Camp and marched to Missouri, acting
as cook of the second Ten of that organization until the camp arrived at
Salt Creek, Mo., where he was appointed to serve in the second company
of rangers.
After the camp was dissolved, Bro. Winters returned
to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was ordained a Seventy by the Prophet Joseph
Smith Feb. 28, 1835, being the first Seventy ordained in this dispensation.
In the spring of 1835, he was sent on a mission to New York.
Elder Winters was present at the dedication of the
Kirtland Temple March 27, 1836, and moved to Quincy, Ill., in 1837, later
to Commerce.
He was ordained a High Priest and appointed to act
as a counselor to Bishop Thomas Burdick [a brother of the aforementioned
Alden Burdick]. In 1845, he moved his family to Nauvoo, and when the camps
of the saints moved westward, he established himself at Burlington, Iowa,
as a shoemaker and a builder of hydraulic cisterns. Having earned sufficient
means to buy a traveling outfit, he followed the Camps of Israel to Kanesville,
Iowa, in 1851, and arrived in the Valley in 1852.
His wife died while crossing the plains and was buried
near Scott's Bluffs, Iowa on the Platte River. Her grave was marked with a steel wagon tire, In recent years, the descendants provided a more permanent and suitable marker. Grampa Bill had the priviledge of visiting her grave markers on an isolated site on the trail. The spirit was strong, and tears flowed copiously.
Elder Winters died Oct. 21, 1889
at Pleasant Grove, Utah.
