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The Winn Family Background
Elisha Winn was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia, on June 25, 1777. His mother, Philadelphia, died when he was a boy. His father, Thomas Winn, remarried; and because of difficulties with his stepmother, Elisha left home and joined his older brothers in South Carolina. All of the brothers then moved to Jackson County, Georgia.
In 1802 Elisha married Judith Cochran in Jackson County and they built a home near Mulberry River. Subsequently, he moved to the Elisha Winn House site a half mile from the Appalachee River, where he built this house in 1812. The Winns had 13 children: Mary, Philadelphia, Elizabeth, Jane, James, Judith, Richard, Thomas, William, George, Augustus, Martha Ann, and Elisha. Eleven lived to adulthood.
*Their son, Richard Dickinson Winn, helped to preserve much of Gwinnett's early history in his biographical sketches of the county's pioneers that were printed in the local newspaper.
*At least one of the daughters, Philadelphia, married in this house, to William Maltbie, who ran Hog Mountain Store (2 miles away).
*Daughter Martha Ann married Clark Howell who was well-known in Atlanta politics.
*Son James Cochran Winn was killed in 1836 in the Mexican War.
*Jane Winn's husband, James Martin, was killed by Creek Indians in 1836 and is buried on the courthouse square.
*Daughter Betsy married and moved to Texas, where she was murdered.
About 1824 the Winn family moved to Lawrenceville for better school facilities. Later, Elisha built on the Cedars place west of Lawrenceville where he lived until his death. He and his wife are buried in the old cemetery on E. Pike Street, off Highway 29 in Lawrenceville.
Their second daughter, Philadelphia (Delphia), is buried near her parents. At age 13 she married William Maltbie, one of the founders of Lawrenceville, the town's first postmaster, Clerk of the Inferior Court, and later a Justice of the Inferior Court. |
