Jerry and Linda Butler

In the 1920 census, Winfred Lancaster is living in the Tillman A. Lancaster household.

Winfred Lancaster

"I Remember"
By H. J. Bolen
Henderson County Times
February 18, 1981

I remember many good friends I made during school days, and some who remained friends right on through the years. I recall Winfred Lancaster who, from high school days, remained my friend right on to his death some years ago. He was the son of Judge W. H. Lancaster, but was given to his brother to rear as his own. The brother, Judge T. A. "Ack" Lancaster, and his brother W. H. "Bill" Lancaster were more than just blood brothers, as we say, but they were very devoted to each other’s welfare and found mutual understanding and respect virtues in their lives. After our high school days together, Winfred went to a Jackson business college, along with Claude Fesmire, with Glenn Jarrett and I going to Union University. We managed to get together some, though, with Jarrett boarding the same place. Winfred made arrangements for me to speak at one of their chapel programs, and what an introduction he gave, no one knowing we were good friends. When his uncle, Judge T. A. Lancaster, was appointed U.S. District Attorney of West Tennessee, he made Winfred his secretary, and they got me a teaching job in Memphis and told me to go to night school and study shorthand and I could have a secretarial job in the District Attorney’s office. Yet, when the summer of 1928 came along I went to the Peabody College employment office and got a school position in Florida, which had the reputation of paying more than any other state at the time. Although I left the state at this time, Winfred and I kept in touch and never lost contact with each other.

When Judge Lancaster went to Washington to see about his appointment for the District Attorney’s post, he came back to Lexington and there was some kind of reception held in the law offices of the Lancaster brothers. My father seems to have been invited to attend and when he came back home he was telling us all, with some degree of pride, that Judge Lancaster had described President Coolidge by telling the group that he looked to him as being about the size of W. R. Bolen. This event and the days that followed were great ones for Winfred, as he felt that his uncle, father, and friend was now one of the nation’s greatest men. Another Henderson Countian, William R. Wright, was also appointed to a federal post, that of U.S. Marshal for the U.S. District Court for West Tennessee. Just previously to this recognition for Henderson County citizens, Judge John E. McCall had served as U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee, he having died in that office.

Winfred Lancaster was later appointed to a position with the state veterans service, and Claude Fesmire became a banker with the First National Bank of Lexington, with Glenn Jarrett setting up a dental practice in Lexington. I boarded with Claude Fesmire at Judge Felix Davis’s home one year, sleeping with my friend, Ashley Adams, with Claude and Tipton Powers across the hall in another room. Claude always entertained us with his jokes that were taken from country settings which spiked good humor. After a life of dedication to education in Henderson County, Ashley closed his educational career as county superintendent of schools. Tipton taught for many years in the county schools.

Winfred Lancaster was a very intelligent person, always full of fun and effervescing with humor. He joined me at Wildersville when ex-Sheriff John Franklin led a posse of citizens seeking the killer of Sheriff W. H. McBride, which lasted a whole day. I had my father’s single-barreled shotgun, which got quite heavy during the long trek, and the only one with a shotgun. Winfred poked fun at me all day, and found something funny about my participation for years to come. And again when Allan Sweatt broke a stick of crayon on my nose, throwing it from across the room during a French class session. When I learned who threw the crayon. I jumped on Allan as we went down the hall. Such, a confrontation was always the delight of Winfred. Winfred was always a true sport, and ever true to his friends, and I never heard him speak ill of anyone. I remember him as one of the finest specimens of manhood ever to come from the heritage of Henderson County.