Page was last updated on July 1, 2001

 Atwine Henry "Winey" Canevit was born March 9, 1895 in Lewistown, Illinois, the only child of Tandy and Dollie Canaevit [1]. Dollie died soon after Winey's birth, and Tandy later re-married, giving Winey a few half-sisters and a half-brother [2].

    Near the end of World War I, Winey enlisted into the U.S. Army, serving from June 24, 1918 to January 4, 1919, leaving the service with an Honorable discharge [3]. With the end of the war, Winey felt he did not need to continue serving, and according to my Grandmother (Mary Canevit), Winey was not fond of the service. Unfortunately, most of Winey's personnel records were destroyed in a fire at the National Archives and Records Administration in 1973.

    Winey married twice. He first married Iona Rambo , a school teacher who graduated from the University of Iowa [4]. Iona was the daughter of Harry Washington Rambo and Michella Dell Works, and was born January 17, 1897 in Clarion, Iowa [5]. They had two children together, Harold Eugene and George Henry. I do not know what caused the break-up of the marriage, but Iona later re-married to Ralph Francis Alexander [6].

    Winey re-married to Louise Elizabeth Snell, daughter of Thomas Snell and Erma Howerter. They had several children together: Dorothy ArMinnie; Edward Leonard; Erma Lou; Robert Lee; Donald Laverne; Mary Louise; William Thomas; and Cathryn [2],[6]. All told, Winey fathered ten children!

    Winey was a farmer, but he also worked at a steel mill for a time. He was involved in an accident at the steel mill where he lost a few fingers and his left eye. For the rest of his life he wore a black patch over his eye, leading me to believe that he was a pirate when I met him as a child ( I don't believe I was five years old, yet when I met him). Edward Canevit noted that Winey was never afraid to tell a child how he lost his eye. Concerning the accidents that Winey had, Edward relayed the following: "Dad had a lot of accidents while working at ABC appliances. I worked the same machine that Dad worked on when he lost his fingers when I was working there before I was going in the service. Dad was working the next machine over. That was the machine he was working on when he broke his pelvis! Dad had a lot of bad luck working there! [9]"

    Winey also umpired for a minor league, often showing up as the only umpire for the games. He would have to call balls and strikes from second base, and supposedly no one questioned his calls, despite being handicapped with only one eye. Edward Canevit states, "Dad was crazy about umpiring. He was always getting into a game somewhere, like the Optimist League, the Church, and the Sunday League [9]." According to my Grandfather (Harold Eugene Canevit), Winey was an avid baseball fan who cheered for two opposing teams: the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. 

    Dick Pollitt contacted me to see if we were related, and that he knew Winey Canevit. Here's a portion of the E-mail: "I seem to remember him being in his fifties or so in 1957 - 1959. Would that be correct? At the time he was blind in one eye and wore a patch. I did not know that he played minor league baseball and he never played at all when I knew him. He did seem to get players. We played in what was called the Fulton County League in those days and played on Sunday afternoons. Peoria, at the time, had a Sunday morning league with players MUCH better than most of us. Winey was able to get several of those players to play with us in the afternoon. A significant number of players in the Fulton County League had played minor league baseball at one time or another but for the most part were older. The Peoria League had younger players. I played with an Ethan Blackaby from Canton who eventually played for the Milwaukee Braves (before Atlanta). Winey seemed to know a lot of players" [7].

    My father relayed a story to me years ago that he remembered a trick that Winey would perform for kids: apparently he could place a light bulb into his mouth and light the bulb seemingly with no electricity.

    Winey is credited with the current name-spelling of our surname. Apparently, he was born with Canaevit as his last name. The story told to me was that Winey and his brother James broke down their relations over Tandy's Last Will and Testament. I believe the main issue was over the ownership of the land. James was left with the entire estate, except $300.00 which was left to Winey, and $25.00 left to an adopted sister who was deceased by that time. Winey was upset at James' treatment of Tandy, and he may have broken off contacts with James over the estate [9].

    Somehow during Winey's lifetime, he was given possession of Antoine's musket. The musket is currently in Edward Canevit's possession. Edward stated that Winey made it clear that the musket is to remain in a Canevit household and to never be sold [9].

    Winey was very fond of eating. In fact, it has been said that his weight often fluctuated (probably due to whether there was a lot of good food or not). Winey told Mary Canevit years ago that "if I die, it will be with a full belly. He didn't say 'when' I die, he said 'if' I die!" She said she always thought it funny the way he said that [8].

    On October 1, 1975, Winey was being rushed to a hospital, complaining of chest pains. He died of a heart attack, and was buried on October 4, 1975 at White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Canton Illinois. He was 80 years old when he passed away [6].

Pictures: 1) Winey and Louise; 2) Iona Rambo and Ralph Francis Alexander; 3) Winey, with Thelma Hegstrom and Louise; 4) Winey's grave in Illinois.

Children of Atwine Henry "Winey" Canevit and Iona Rambo

Children of Atwine Henry "Winey" Canevit and Louis Elizabeth Snell

Sources Cited

[1]    Certificate of Birth, Form V.S. No. 3-A, State of Illinois, dated 17 March, 1942.

[2]    Hall, Arthur K.(1998) The Gin Ridge Clans. Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah: IA.

[3]    Statement of Service, NA Form 13041(REV. 9-96), dated January 29, 1998. Gives Winey Canevit's service number, 1372218. Date entered service: June 24, 1918, date discharged: January 4, 1919 from Camp Grant, Illinois.

[4]    Form SS-5, Application for Social Security Number, for Harold Canevit listed parents as Winey Henry Canevit and Iona Trambone (sic).

[5]    Form SS-5, Application for Social Security Number, for Iona Rambo Green.

[6]    E-mail correspondence with Skip Canevit, March 9, 2000. Information was taken from Iona's family Bible.

[7]    E-mail correspondence with Dick Pollitt, September 26, 1999.

[8]    Conversation with Mary Byrne Canevit, May 6, 2000.

[9]    Conversation with Edward Canevit, June 4, 2001.

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This page and all related pages © 1999-2003 by David Scott Canevit, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin