Donnelly Graveyard, Mountain City, Tennessee ~

This, according to the death record for Martin Winters, is the final resting place of one of the Winters' Family  "Seven Devils".  Martin was a brother to Sarah Ellender Winters Arrowood.  His family members rest here, also.  There was no marker located for him in this small cemetery located on a hill overlooking the highway in Mountain City.

May he rest in peace.

There is a large expanse in the middle of this cemetery where no markers remain.

Myrtle Lee Winters Wood, daughter of William "Billy" Winters, Jr.  She was born September 14, 1901 and died November 12, 1942. She married Richard I Wood.  The parents of her husband, Richard, also rest here.  

Her son David Thomas Wood is buried nearby.

He was tragically killed by a head on collision the night before he was to marry.  May they rest in peace.

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Mount Olivet United Methodist Church Invitation~ 2012

This tiny church has an annual worship service and it is so charming!

In the cemetery directly behind this church, rests Welzia Augustus Arrowood. Alongside Welzia, his wife, Isabell Correll Arrowood.

Welzia's mother, Sarah Ellender Winters Arrowood Miller also rests here.

Please join in and help keep this tiny church (and our history) from falling into ruin from neglect!

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In Search of Seven Devils and the Winters Family Cemetery

Thinking Thursday ~ Billy Winters ~ the Fist Fightin' Man

Well, folks,  you do know what a 'storyteller' is, don't you?

It's a person that has a good memory, who hopes other people don't.*

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I found some interesting stories about our ancestor. Whether or not they are true, now I can't rightly say. But you have to hear them, don't you? I think all stories passed down through the generations have to have at least one grain of truth, or else they are just plain entertaining and that is why they are retold.

There has to be a good reason for the retelling of all stories, after all.


You can deduce and come to your own conclusions. I want to believe that all of our ancestors were good, kind, and noble people . Never did a thing wrong in all their lives.

But,  what are you to think when juicy stories abound? Grin.

Dad had heard about the 'Seven Devils' and he was the first to mention it to me. That started me looking and the looking led to the finding. I found a tidbit here and a smidge there. Putting them down in one place seems fitting for the generations yet to come.  Afterall, that is my main reason for being here, folks.

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William "Billy"  N. Winters was born on Canoe Creek, Burke County, North Carolina, about the year 1819. He was the oldest of nine children born to John and Nancy Daniels Winters. William was married to Eliza Shell, daughter of Daniel Shell. about 1836-1837 Eliza's mother was a Miller. They lived in the Shell Creek area of Carter County Tennessee where they raised a total of fourteen siblings; seven girls and seven boys. (Father of our Sarah Ellender Winters Arrowood)


William, and Eliza, have the distinction of being the parents of the famous, 'Seven Devils', the Winters brothers. I'm not sure that their notoriety as being labled Seven Devil's is a true reflection of their character. I would prefer to think of them as hard working men who couldn't be pushed around. I have heard all kinds of stories about their meanness, whether true or not, I can't say. I do know that at least one of them was killed by a man, Alfred Briggs, who hit him over the head with a shovel. One of them who's name was Nathaniel, and was known as blind Nat Winters, died as the result of being runover by a train, severing his head from his body. Carrick Nelson went blind but died a natural death.

One lady, a relative, I met while living in Canton, Ohio, told me a couple stories about William N. Winters that was somewhat amusing. It seems that William loved to engage in a good fist fight. She told of William while standing talking to a group of men in the town of Elk Park, N.C., and on one occasion, he suddenly looked at his watch, and looking somewhat exasperated, said," I'm due for a fist fight in Fields of Toe in seven minutes" and he broke into a dead run heading for the place of engagement. The place where the fight was supposed to take place was about six miles distance away.

She then related this story to me. She said, Eliza asked William to go out back and bring her in some wood for her cook stove. William very dutifully arose, and went out the back door. The problem was, William was gone four years before he returned, with the wood. He came back through the same door he had left through with a arm load of wood and said to Eliza, "Here honey, is your wood".

No one ever knew where he had been all that time he was gone.

Many stories are around about how tough the Seven Devils were, some about how mean.

I like to think they weren't so much mean as determined not to be pushed around. One son was killed by Alfred Briggs, who hit him over the head with a shovel.

One son, Nathaniel, was blind, known as 'Blind Nat Winters'.
He was ran over by a train, reportedly the accident severed his head.

Sadly, Carrick Winters went blind as well ,  but he died of natural causes.

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Wouldn't you just love the opportunity, to sit and  talk to Sarah Ellender
and hear what she has to say about her Dad and her brothers??

'Seven Devils' In The Tree

Located centrally, between Boone, Blowing Rock, Sugar Mountain, Banner Elk, and Beech Mountain, there is a town called Seven Devils, North Carolina.

Boasting an elevation of 5,200 feet, the town of Seven Devils was founded in 1775. The lower end of the mountain was used to farm everything from cabbage to tobacco and the upper end was used for raising cattle. Hanging Rock, Four Diamond Ridge and Hawksbill Rock were the highest peaks in the area.

Seven men on horseback braved an old wagon trail and observed these peaks one fortunate day in 1964. The four Reynolds brothers; Buck, Frank, Dan, and Herb, Ray Smith, George Hampton, and Gardner Gidley saw this magnificent mountain as something that should be shared by many. The L.A. Reynolds Industrial District of Winston-Salem, NC formed the Seven Devils Ski Resort in the town, in 1965.

Have you ever heard the story about an old man on the mountain who had seven sons "as mean as the devil"? People were heard commenting, that in the winter, the mountain was "as cold as the devils" or "as windy as the devil".

There is a repeated appearance of the number seven, including the seven predominant rocky peaks surrounding Valley Creek, as well as the many coincidental references to "devils".

Well, naturally these “devils” figure in to our tree…grin.

William Winters, born about 1767, in Ireland, most likely, married Miss Mary Balew on September 30, 1795 in North Carolina.
They had a son named John James Winters , born about 1795 in Burke County, North Carolina.
John James Winters married Nancy Daniels on March 13, 1814 in Burke County, North Carolina.

John James and Nancy Winters had five children.
One of these children was William “Billy” N. Winters.
William “Billy” Winters married Elizabeth "Liza" Shell in 1837.

Boy, did they have some kids.
Seven boys and seven girls.


One of the seven girls was our Sarah Ellen “Ellender” Winters Arrowood, wife of Samuel.

Children of William and Liza Shell Winters:

Mary Jane Winters, Born 1838
Sarah Ellen Winters, Born May 1840
John H. Winters, Born 1843
William "Billy" Winters, Jr., Born 1844
Malinda Winters, Born 1845
Albert Tipton Winters, Born 1847
Martin W. Winters, Born 1854
Carrick W. N. Winters, Born 1855
Elizabeth Harriet Winters, Born February 10, 1855
Charlotte "Lottie" Elizabeth Winters, Born 1856
Martha A. Winters, Born March 1858
Charles Winters, Born 1860
Nathaniel Winters
Daniel Wilbur Winters, Born 1844




The old story went that there were "seven blue eyed boys and seven green eyed girls". Some family members said the girls were dark eyed. I think the eye color of the girls was just a matter of perception.

Note (The eye color of the male grandchildren was said to be as blue as the sky.)

"There were seven devils and seven angels".

It was commonly believed in those days that all of the boys were devils and the girls were all angels.



Dan Winters reviewed the character of the members of the family and reached the decision that two of the boys were of general good character, and two of the girl were "mean as devils", therefore he listed two of the girls as 'devils'. One of the girls changed her ways after the days of her marriage. She was Malinda, married to William Hobson. William was a good man and apparently he had a good effect on Malinda. Elizabeth was tough to the end, she left her first husband and children to marry her second husband. She made his life difficult to the very end.

Dan Winters can remember the old time Winters mentioning that there were two girls named Mary, the Winters family. One girl grew up and married and raised children, the second, which we have assigned the name of "Mary Nancy" to determine her from Mary Jane. Mary Nancy was listed on the 1840 census and was not listed on the 1850 census, she died before the age of 12. She is buried in the same cemetery as her father at his feet and to his left.

Daniel Wilbur Winters was generally a good man, he had one child out of wedlock but beyond this, he was a good man. Albert Winters was generally a good man. He got his reputation because of his ability to fight. In the 'tough man' contest that they held during the summers, Albert won the event 15 years running. He could defeat most or all of the men of his day in a fist fight, thus the misconception that he was one of the "Devils". Understand, he was a tough customer, in those days anyone who lived in this area was tough, and they had to be.

The Devil List ~

John H. Winters. (The Second Meanest of the Group)
Malinda Winters (She became a Reformed Devil, in her later years and turned good.)
Martin Winters (The Meanest of the Group)
William H. Winters (Fair to Middlin’ Mean)
Carrick Nelson Winters (Loved Mischief)
Nathaniel Winters (Middlin’ To Mean)
Elizabeth Harriet Winters (One Tough Customer)


The Angels list ~

Mary Jane Winters (Good Woman)
Mary Nancy Winters (died as a child before 1850)
Sarah Ellen Winters (Good Woman)
Daniel Wilbur Winters (Good man, died young)
Albert Tiption Winters (Good man, lived to a good old age, married the daughter of a Baptist preacher)
Martha Winters (Good Woman)
Charlotte Winters (Good Woman)

John H. Winters is buried in the Ellis Cemetery in Elk Park, North Carolina.
Daniel Wilbur Winters is buried in the Richardson Cemetery on Morgan Branch.
Albert Tiption Winters is buried in the Albert Winters Cemetery at the top of Little Elk Road in Elk Park, North Carolina.
Martin Winters is buried in the Richard Donnely Cemetery on Highway 91 North in Mountain City, Johnson County, Tennessee. (He has no marker for his grave.)
William H. Winters is buried in the Owens Cemetery, on Deer Run road, off Highway 91 North.
Carrick Nelson Winters is buried at his cemetery at the end of the Claude Jones Lane on Little Elk Road in Elk Park, North Carolina.
Nathanial Winters is buried beside John H. Winters in the Ellis Cemetery in Elk Park NC.

Mary Jane Winters Franklin is buried at the Taylor’s Chapel on Buck Mountain, North Carolina.
Mary Nancy Winters is buried at the Richardson Cemetery on Morgan Branch Tennessee, near her father.
Sarah Ellen Winters, Mount Olivet Methodist Church Cemetery, Gastonia, North Carolina.
Malinda Winters Hobson is buried in the Albert Winters Cemetery at the top of Little Elk Road Elk Park, North Carolina.
Martha Winters Caraway is buried at the Caraway Cemetery on Morgan Branch Tennessee, in the Richardson Cemetery.
Charlotte Winters Greer is buried in Idaho, exact location, unknown.
Elizabeth Harriet Winters Nelson is buried in the Blackwell Cemetery on Buck Mountain, Tennessee.



The family of the Seven Devils carried on with a practice that caused the members of the community, to believe that they were, “Devils“.
Every summer, from about 1865 until about 1900, they came to the Doll Flats (the Doll Flats is a mountain meadow at about 4500 ft. above sea level on the North Carolina & Tennessee state line). They would hold a tough man contest (men only), the one stipulation was that each member must be a blood descendant of John Winters. Anyone else would be forcibly removed. They would fight in rounds, until a champion was declared. This process was close to the fighting style of the Vikings, that terrorized Europe, from 700 AD to 1100 AD.

They would start the process with a "Ditty", of which one line went, "Come and join our social group".

Albert Winters won the event for fifteen years running.
It took a week or more for the fighters to recover from the wounds they received in this contest. The rest of the community would see the distorted faces of the men with these wounds and conclude that normal people did not do this type of thing. The men loved a good fight, William the father was a bare knuckle fighter, he was a large man with great strength, he once picked up a grown horse and set it over a fence, (a grown horse could weigh 800 to 1000 pounds).

This family developed their attitudes before and during the “War Between the States” we can only guess at what it was like to live in those times during the unsettled conditions of the war. This family, like so many others, took a long time to return to the concept and execution of ‘living in times of peace‘. The Sheriff was twenty miles away and could not get to the area for a day or two, even if he wanted to. The people of this era and location had to fend for themselves, Mr. Frank Fields stated that men of this era would settle disagreements among themselves, they did not like outside intrusions.

This is the game board that the pieces moved on, the men and women were the pieces and the players, the interplay between the players fills out and embellishes the story of the ‘Seven Devils‘.

One thing of interest is that during the summer tough man contest when darkness came, they would take a break and gather the rails from William Hobson's fence, and build a bonfire (like the Vikings) and then carry on with the contest. I think William Hobson probably split some extra rails and hid them away so he could quickly rebuild his fence each year.

The rails were made from the chestnut trees that covered the land in those days.
These men were his in-laws, so he did not disagree much with them.