Carrie Lena Winkleman was born Aug.. 25, 1869, in Jefferson, Iowa, of parents, John H. and Sarah Francis Taylor Winkleman. John and Sarah later moved to Cottonwood where they raised their family. Their home, in excellent condition and presently occupied, still stands in Cottonwood.

Gregor and Carrie first met at the Winkleman ranch when Gregor, who repaired pumps) was contacted to fix their pump. They married Nov. 10, 1885, at the Old Berry Cattle ranch in the Cottonwood area and began their married life on the 300 acres Gregor had homesteaded in the Platina area. There they began developing the ranch that would become almost completely self-sustaining and where their fourteen children would be born and raised.

Their children were:

Edna	b. 1887	d. 1958
Amelia	b. ----	d. Age 1 1/2
Sophia	b. 1889	d. 1969
Minnie	b. 1890	d. 1979
Ed	b. 1892	d. 1957
Tillie	b. 1894	d. 1977
Bessie	b. 1895	d. 1971
Silvia	b. 1897	d. 1917
Jack	b. 1898	d. 1939
Carrie	b. 1900	d. ----
Ted	b. 1902	d. 1975
Carl	b. 1905	d. 1980
Ruby	b. 1908	d. 1979
Clarence	b. 1912	d. 1953

Gregor built their house, 2 barns, planted orchards, berries, gardens, feed for their livestock. They smoked hams, bacon, sausage, put down sauerkraut and pickles by the barrel, made their own soap. Carrie preserved, canned, sewed the family's clothes. As the chlldren grew they worked hard beside their parents.

The ranch was a stopping place for teamsters traveling from Red Bluff to Trinity Co. The ranch also served as the Platina Post Office for a time. Gregor and Don Noble, a nelghbor, bullt the Goldboro Schoolhouse. Parts of desks mark the spot south of Platina on the Beegum road. Gregor never worked off the ranch except to bulld the flume which furnished water to the Bell Cow Mine. This flume later evolved into a narrow dirt road known as "The Ditch Grade".

Once a year Gregor drove the cattle to be sold, along with a barrel of sauerkraut to Red Bluff, stopping in Cottonwood on the return trip to buy staples and yardage.

The ranch home and all the contents were destroyed by fire in 1926. It was replaced by a small home that also burned.

Carrie died May 15, 1927, in Redding at the home of her daughter, Minnie Thomas. Gregor stayed on the ranch until he became ill, then lived with his daughter, Carrie Jordan, in Douglas City, Trinity Co. On Oct. 9, 1935, he died at the Redding home of his youngest daughter, Ruby Noble. Gregor and Carrie are both buried in the Redding Cemetery.

Source: Shasta Historical Society