The Philadelphia Winn Chapter NSDAR was
organized and chartered during the DAR Continental Congress on April 19,
1982, with twenty-nine organizing members. The chapter was named for
Philadelphia Winn Maltbie, wife and daughter of men instrumental in the
founding of Lawrenceville, county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Philadelphia Winn was born on July 27, 1804, the daughter of Elisha Winn
and Judith Cochran. She was the granddaughter of Thomas Winn, a Revolutionary
soldier from Lunenburg, Virginia, and of Major James Cochran, a
Revolutionary soldier from Jackson County, Georgia. In October 1817,
having turned thirteen, she married William Maltbie, twenty years her
senior.
While her father donated more than two hundred acres on which to build
Lawrenceville, her husband was responsible for having named the town and
its four main streets. Both men became prominent members of the county
government.
Around 1850, Philadelphia set the pattern for the Ladies Temperance
Society when she walked into a saloon on Perry Street (across the street
from the courthouse) and, using a heavy walking stick, broke every
bottle in sight. It seems she had told the owner "not to sell whiskey"
to one of her boys, and he had failed to obey her. Philadelphia Winn
Maltbie died on September 13, 1887.
The chapter had 41 original organizing/charter members. Today our chapter has over 250 members and four associate members.