Ross Revillon Winans

Identity:

Ross Revillon Winans was the eldest son of of Celeste Louise Revillon (1828-1861) and Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878), a partner in the major locomotive firm Harrison, Winans and Eastwick, which was involved in the construction of the St Petersburg to Moscow railroad. He was a relation of Whistler by marriage, his father's sister Julia being married to Whistler's half-brother George William Whistler. He was born in St Petersburg and had two brothers and a sister: George (1849-1851); William George (1852-1871); and Celeste Marguerite (1855-1925), later Mrs Gaun McRobert Hutton.

Life:

Born in St Petersburg, Ross Winans was brought up at Alexandroffsky, 838 Hollins Street, Baltimore, MD, a house designed and built by Neirsee and Neilson and named after the town where his father's locomotive works were located in Russia.

The owner of Bleak House on Ocean Avenue, Ross Winans was described by the New York Times as a 'pioneer resident' of Baltimore. On 10 January 1872 he married Mary Elizabeth ('Minne') Greenway Ludlum (1851-1872). However, she died the same year and he was remarried in London on 20 May 1877 to Catherine Neva Beatrice Whistler (1860-1907), his first cousin and daughter of George William Whistler and Julia de Kay Winans. They had four children: Neva Marguerite (1881-1883); Beatrice (1884-1907); Thomas George (1886-1941); and Ross William (1887-1907).

Bibliography:

'Gaun M. Hutton Dies', New York Times, 10 July 1916, p. 11;