George P. Winston, born June 29, 1857, in Evansville, Rock County, Wisconsin, is a prominent rancher and stock grower in Brown County, South Dakota. Son of Nelson and Eliza A. Winston, he moved to Frederick, South Dakota, in 1881, establishing a significant farming and livestock business. In 1900, he acquired a 1,560-acre ranch known for its high-quality Aberdeen Angus cattle. Winston married Florence E. Yager in 1877, and they have three sons: Roy, Earl, and Paul. He is also active in the Masonic fraternity, attaining the thirtieth degree of the Scottish Rite.
George P. Winston is the owner of one of the largest and best improved ranches in Brown county, located seven miles west of Frederick. He is also known as one of the extensive farmers and stock growers of this section of the state, being engaged in the buying and shipping of livestock. He is recognized as a progressive business man and a loyal and sterling citizen of the state in which he has maintained his home for more than a score of years.
Mr. Winston claims the Badger state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Evansville, Rock county, Wisconsin, on the 29th of June, 1857, and being a son of Nelson and Eliza A. Winston, both of whom were natives of the state of New York. They were numbered among the pioneers of Wisconsin, and the father of the subject was for many years one of the prominent merchants and influential citizens of Evansville. Our subject received his early educational training in the schools of his native town and later supplemented this by a course of study in the Wisconsin State University, at Madison. He thereafter was engaged in contracting in Evansville until 1881, on the 19th of June of which year he came to Frederick, South Dakota, and took up a pre-emption claim south of the pioneer village. There he turned his attention to farming and stock-raising, eventually augmenting the area of his farm, and there continued to reside for the ensuing fifteen years, within which period he became quite extensively engaged in the buying and shipping of cattle and sheep. In 1900 Mr. Winston purchased his present magnificent ranch, which is located on Elm creek and comprises fifteen hundred and sixty acres, all in one body, the place having been previously known as the McAlpine ranch. He keeps an average herd of about two hundred head of cattle and is making a specialty of breeding Aberdeen Angus cattle, having the best herd of black cattle in the county and having done much to improve the grade of stock raised in this locality. He still continues to ship livestock and also wool, in which latter line he handled a quarter of a million pounds in 1902. Mr. Winston is a staunch Republican but has never desired public office, preferring to be known as primarily and essentially a business man. He is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the thirtieth degree of the Scottish Rite, being identified with the consistory at Aberdeen.
In Madison, Wisconsin, on the 10th of June, 1877, Mr. Winston was united in marriage to Miss Florence E. Yager, who was born and reared in that state. Of this union have been born three sons, namely: Roy N., who is engaged in the meat business in Frederick; Earl G., who is employed in the drafting department of the Westinghouse Electrical Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Paul G., who remains at the parental home and is giving much time and study to the breeding of barred Plymouth Rock poultry.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.