When the Winter family arrived in the United States in March of 1882, James had just turned 20 om 16 January. The family proceeded from New York City to Livingston County, Illinois where Jane’s sister and brother-in-law Holland and Ellen Eyre Catton and brother and sister-in-law George and Alice Catton Eyre had settled after they emigrated in 1855. James was still single and struck out for Nebraska not long after arrival in Illinois. He probably made the journey, as did most settlers, by train; this mode of transportation took only a few days as opposed to weeks or months.
He appears here on the 1885 Nebraska State Census as a drayman. In England this occupation applied to the carters that hauled beer kegs on flat wagons, but in the US, draymen carried all manner of goods. James likely worked for the railroad or for a company that hauled for the railroad as McCook was a major railroad station with a huge maintenance shop and warehousing. Most of the town was involved with the railroad and the county depended on it to move goods and passengers both in and out. He married Susannah Johnson in 1885 or 1886. Five of their seven children were born there - Sadie Jane 1186, William Aaron 1887, Benjamin Harrison 1889, Mabel Harriet 1890, Clarence George 1893. James’s parents and younger siblings arrived sometime in 1885, after the census, with William attaining citizenship there 11 March 1889.
Background: Paper 11 in Linear Burn mode over journal paper 02 with paint, stamps and transfer in between. The rest is just layering and adding photos.
