Our History

     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.