Pioneer families who settled and farmed in and around the Bureau County area of Illinois.
Forrest G. Steele was born in 1882 in Dover, Illinois, the son of George and Eliza Hensel Steele, both of whose families had homesteaded in northwestern Illinois since the early 1800s. He married Georgia Mae Baker in 1909. Georgia M. Baker was born in 1884 in Tiskilwa, Illinois, to parents Amanda and John Wesley Baker. She attended De Kalb and Northwestern Universities and taught school for many years in the Dover area. After their marriage, Forrest G. and Georgia B. Steele took over the Steele family farm where they raised their children Forrest, Harold, Roger, Marion, and Helen. Helen Florence Steele was born in 1912. She attended Illinois Woman's College (later McMurray College) for two years, and then transferred to the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana where she received a bachelor's degree. She studied art and later taught art in the Illioplois school system. She met her future husband Robert U. Winters, Jr. while at the University. Robert Winters, Jr. also came from a farming family. Born in 1908, his parents were Robert Sr. and Minnie Putnam Winters, of Rosamond, Illinois. Robert Winters, Jr. studied agriculture at UIUC. Robert and Helen Winters married in 1935. Shortly after their marriage Robert Winters found work with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a public works program that was part of the New Deal. The Winters resided in Wisconsin at this time, traveling from camp to camp whenever Robert Winters was assigned. After the CCC, Robert Winters worked as a traveling salesman for farm equipment, taught high school agriculture, and over the years purchased and worked several farms in and around Shirland and Illiopolis, Illinois. He also served in the army during WW II, but never went overseas. Robert and Helen Winters had six children, Raymond, Rosemary, Carol Sue, David, Cindy and Robert III. Robert Winters, Jr. died tragically in a tractor-train collision in 1978, Helen lived until 1999. Many members of their extended families continue to live and farm in northwestern Illinois to the present day. The Steele-Winters information file, available in Special Collections, also contains an abundance of detailed genealogical information and family history compiled by the family.
From the description of Steele-Winters family papers, 1860-2009, bulk 1900-1970. (Newberry Library). WorldCat record id: 756457006
