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Most of the papers of William Parkhurst Winans were donated to Washington State University Libraries in two installments, the first, in 1935, by Mrs. W.P. Winans and her family, and the second, in 1955, by Mrs. George L. Converse ( W.P. Winans’s daughter) and her son, George L. Converse. Mary W. Avery, an Extension Instructor in Washington History and Government, originally described and organized the papers in 1956; this finding aid was updated by Manuscripts Librarian Robert N. Matuozzi in November of 1999.

BIOGRAPHY

William Parkhurst Winans was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on January 28,1836, one of eight children born to Jonas Wood Winans and Sarah Stiles. W.P Winans’s ancestry can be traced to the Revolutionary War in the figure of one Isaac Winans (1710-1780), who served as a member on the committee of public safety. Isaac Winans died after being imprisoned by the British.

In 1859 W.P. Winans journeyed westward from Springfield, Illinois, arriving at the Umatilla River in Oregon in September of that year. He worked as a warehouseman and schoolteacher in the winter of 1860-1861, and was a clerk of the first Oregon election in 1860. In July of 1861 he moved to Fort Colville, Washington, where he was appointed deputy county auditor of Spokane County before becoming auditor in 1862. During this period Winans’s career followed parallel paths in business and government. He was appointed clerk for the United States district court comprising Spokane and Missoula counties, serving under Judge E.P. Oliphant. Winans’s owned a general store when in 1866 he was elected county superintendent of schools. In 1867, 1868 and 1871, he represented Stevens County in the Washington territorial legislature. A significant part of  Winans’s career began in 1870, with his appointment as Sub-Indian Agent of the six non-treaty tribes in the Colville region that had declined to make peace with the Federal government. It was in this capacity that, in 1872, he successfully argued against the directive of President Grant that would have given the Colville Valley Indian tribes areas in Stevens County where white settlers had previously established themselves under laws associated with "pre-emption" and homestead rights. This decision caused a great deal of controversy at the time. W.P. Winans was married to Lydia (or Lidia) Moore (d. 1876) in 1868 or 1869, and to Christine McRae in 1879.

In 1874 Winans moved from Colville to Walla Walla, entering into the mercantile firm of Johnson, Rees & Co. (later Rees, Winans & Co.) He traveled widely in Europe during this period and had local interests in farming, merchandising, freighting, and banking. He was also active in civic, church, and business affairs, serving in the latter capacity as a member of the board of directors of First National Bank of Walla Walla and as President of Farmer’s Savings Bank from 1890 until 1917. William Parkhurst Winans died on April 22, 1917.

ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION

The archive of William Parkhurst Winans consists of business and government records, diaries and correspondence, and manuscripts on church matters and Stevens County (Washington) history. Also included are clippings, photographs, maps, memorabilia, and miscellaneous material.

The business records show cartage rates (wagon freighting) for the Pacific Northwest, prices for goods, rates and patterns of commodities consumption, freight routes, stock inventories, and banking and investment information for the Walla Walla region.

The church material chiefly centers on the First Presbyterian Church of Walla Walla, and includes both printed and manuscript records.

The material relating to the history of Stevens County, Washington, consists of the letters¾ first-hand accounts, observations, and reminiscences¾ that Winans acquired in the course of gathering information and resources for an unpublished typescript titled "Stevens County, Washington: Its Creation, Addition, Subtraction and Division" (1904). A notable item here is a 6-leave holograph document from the Fall of 1897 that purports to be an eyewitness account of the Whitman Massacre, as told by a Mrs. Delaney (formerly Matilda Sager) to P.M. Winans. The prominent frontier historian Frederick Jackson Turner urged Winans to preserve his diaries because they would provide future historians with invaluable primary source material on the details of pioneer life in the Pacific Northwest.

The Indian material dating from Winans’s period as Sub-Indian Agent is significant. A noteworthy item is an 1870 census of the Indian tribes in northeastern Washington (Territory), including the Okanagans, Calispels (or Pend’ Oreilles), San Poils and Nespelems, Senijexsees or Lakes, Wenatchees and Isle d'Pierres, Mishouies, Spokanes, and the Swielpees (or Colvilles). This material includes detailed verbatim reports on speeches given by chiefs in tribal councils, descriptions of the social and economic situation of the region’s tribes, and notes on how the Indians viewed white people and white society.

SERIES ARRANGEMENT

The William Parhurst Winans Papers were initially calendared by Mary W. Avery around 1956. Avery assigned seven series and subseries to Winans’s archive. The list presented here is in the maintained order, but Avery's series list is available as an additional guide. Robert Matuozzi, Manuscripts Librarian, updated the finding aid in November of 1999. Idiosyncrasies in Avery’s descriptive inventory have almost always been retained, with some minor modifications for the sake of currency, clarity and accuracy. The notations consisting of numbers or numbers followed by alphabetic subdivisions indicate the item number within a given folder.

For more information about these papers, see:

Mary W. Avery, "The W. Park Winans Manuscripts," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 47 (January 1956): 15-20.

CONTAINER LIST