My grandfather, Fred Winters, was the youngest surviving child in a family of 16 children. They lived in New South Wales, Australia until after his father’s death, in 1904. A few years after George, Fred’s father, passed away, his mother, Reachel, and some of the younger children joined the Church and emigrated to Utah and Alberta, Canada. When I was young, I would ask my grandfather about the Australian family, his older siblings that had stayed in Australia. Fred was about age 7 when he came to America and, with the death of his mother 3 years after they arrived, he had few details on the Australian side of the family.
In 1993, I was in Canada on business and visiting my cousin, Duena Winters Billingsley, after work one day. Duena is my father’s first cousin, so she is my first cousin, one generation removed. As a child, I always thought of her as my aunt because of the generational difference. I was sitting in her front room and noticed an envelope and letter with Australian postage on the table. I asked her who the letter was from, and she replied from the kitchen, “That letter is one you need to answer!” As I read the letter, I learned that it was from an Australian relative asking about the “Winters” family that had emigrated from Australia to the USA and Canada.
As requested, I responded to the letter from Marion Gray Eastcott in New South Wales, Australia. It wasn’t long before I received a reply. Marion was married to Les Eastcott and was very interested in pursuing the genealogy of her husband’s family. Les’ mother was a “Winter(s)” and his grandfather, Andrew Winter(s), was an older brother of my grandfather, Fred. As a note, some of the children in my grandfather’s generation went by “Winter” and some went by “Winters,” so the names are interchangeable.
A few months later, on Labor Day, the phone rang at our home in Sandy, Utah. One of our daughters answered it and said, “Dad, someone is on the phone for you. I think they are from England.” When I answered the phone, it was my cousin Les Eastcott from Australia saying that he was coming to America on business and one of his stops was at the University of Utah and that he would like to meet me and our family. Les was the vice chancellor at a university in New South Wales and was making several stops at different universities in the USA.
When we met at the SLC Airport, he said that I looked like the family in Australia and that he had no problem recognizing me. Les brought gifts for the children and a wealth of genealogy information his wife had gathered. All the family that emigrated to the USA and Canada had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints either before they left Australia or after they arrived in the USA/Canada. Les and the children descended from those who stayed in Australia and were members of the Church of England. The materials he brought gave the names of our great grandfather’s family with our great-great grandparents and others who had made Australia their home. It was interesting to me when Les said of his wife, Marion, “I think that Marion must be possessed because she is so intent on doing family history research.”
We had a wonderful visit with Les and were able to take him to see some of the sights of the Salt Lake Area, including Temple Square. It wasn’t long after, that I went to Australia on a work assignment and I was able to visit Les and his family.
By 1996, I had gathered most of the information for my great grandparents and their family to take to the temple, so the children, including my grandfather, could be sealed to their parents. Four of us – my cousin, Duena Winters Billingsley, and her husband, DeVere, went with Susan and I to the Salt Lake Temple to seal our great grandparents, George Winter(s) and Reachel Chittenden (pictured above on 11 Sep 1873), and their children together. It was a wonderful and very spiritual experience. I was joyful and spiritually moved by the temple ceremony. As we left the sealing room, I noticed that Duena had tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong. She said, “Did you hear that voice?” I said that I didn’t hear a voice and asked her if it was a man’s or a woman’s voice. She told me that it was a woman’s voice who said, “We have been waiting so long for this!”
Life doesn’t end at death. It goes on in another realm we call the Spirit World. There are those appointed in that realm that I believe are watching over us. We have the responsibility and privilege, if we will accept it, to provide essential eternal service for them.
-Gary Winters