Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. The Winn Family "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Friday, July 9, 1993 I have known of the Winn Family of Dudley and Mount Olive all my life, but only recently have I met Henry Winn of Mount Olive, who has collected much data on this family and their forebears. I am relying on his data as a reliablle source. I have not had the time to check the land records in Duplin, nor have I checked the Census records. The Winns are widely connected with the Simmons, Brewington, Jacobs, and Carter families. Prior to the War Between the States, these families were free, and when the first census was taken in 1790 they were listed as "free persons of color" and sometimes called "free issue." They intermarried among themselves since they were forbidden by law to intermarry with slaves. Many of them undoubtedly had some Indian blood as well as African blood. Some of these families owned land, and the Winn family not only owned large tracts of land but they owned some slaves. The Census of 1860 lists these families as Mulattoes. The first known member of the Winn Family was Adam Winn who originally lived in Duplin County and is believed to have been descended from the Waccamaw Indians. He moved to Wayne County and bought several tracts of land including land on which the Town of Mount Olive is located. He sold land 1836-1840 for the building of the Wilmington & Raleigh Railroad, later known as the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. Adam Winn had five sons: Adam, Gray, Washington, Charles, and Levi. Adam Winn Jr. married and had five sons: William, Marshall, John, Woodward, and Woodley. Charles Winn (1817) married America and had the following children: William, Meria, Churchill, Margaret, Levi, Mary, Frances, Lebyet, Wyatt, and Charles. Gray Winn (1818-1850) married and had the following children: Betsey, Edward, Eliza, Penny, Annie, and Washington Frank. Levi Winn married twice and had the following children: Henry, David, Pinkney, George, Charles, Mary, Martha, John, Elizabeth, Susan, and Levi. Washington Winn (born 1820) married first Larky of Sampson County and second, Temperance Brewington and their children were: Aaron, Levi, Apoly, James, Giles, George, Aubrey, Elizabeth, Lesley, Mary, Della, and Louella. Washington, Charles, and Levi Winn were farmers and also worked as carpenters and blacksmiths. After the War Between the States, the Winns and their connections were able to vote, and they became members of the Republican Party. Washington Winn was a Wayne County commissioner from 1872-74. He was postmaster of Mount Olive from 1881 to 1885. Levi was a justice of the peace in 1870. When the town of Dudley was incorporated in 1897, Charles W. Winn was one of the first commissioners. The land on which the Winn Chapel Missionary Baptist Church was built in 1878 in Mount Olive was given by Washington Winn by deed in 1875 and the first pastor was the Rev. Washington Winn. In 1880, the first school for black people was established in Mount Olive with E. E. Smith as the first principal. Susie Winn was one of the early teachers, and in 1896, Cora Winn joined the faculty. There are literally thousands of descendants of Adam Winn now living in the United States. Some identify as African-Americans, others as Indians and a few identify as White. Henry Winn, now 81, was born in Wayne County and he attended A & T College three years. In 1935, he moved to Connecticut and then Massachusetts. He served in the U.S. Army 1941-1945. After the war, he was a successful business man in Washington, D.C. and now living in Mount Olive. He is a member of the First Congregation Church of Dudley. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================