General Albert Maver Winn

General A.M. Winn, was born in Pumpkinville, Louden County, Virginia in 1810. His family moved to Zanesville, Ohio, where he attended a one room school and, at the age of 16, became a carpenter's apprentice. In 1829 he married Catherine Gaffney in Zanesville, and they moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1832. Albert became a Lieutenant in the local militia in 1835. He also became a member of the Fraternal order of Oddfellows, and was a Jackson Democrat.

In 1836 he was promoted to the rank of Major in the militia, and served as assistant quartermaster on the staff of Gov. Charles Lynch. Winn was appointed Drill Master in 1840, and on February 28, 1845 was made a Colonel in the First Regiment of the Mississippi Militia. He was one of the judges of an election board that elected Jefferson Davis as Colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment of Volunteers who served in the Mexican War. Winn was also the Secretary of the Phoenix Engine Fire Company and President of the Master Carpenters and Joiners Society of Vicksburg.

On February 2, 1849, at the age of 38, Albert was bitten by the gold bug and leaving his wife and son behind, journeyed to New Orleans where he joined the Company under Major Kinney. This company traveled by steamboat to Corpus Christi, Texas, and from there traveled overland to Durango, Mexico, where some members of the company split off and continued to Mazatlan, from which Albert took a bark to San Francisco, arriving May 28, 1849. Winn took a sailboat upriver to Freeport and walked from there to Sutter's Fort, where he arrived on June 15.

Arriving in Sacramento City on June 25th, he set up his carpenter's bench under the shade of an oak tree at the foot of K Street, and commenced work on a coffin, which he immediately sold for $50. He started to manufacture gold rockers which were in great demand.

On August 1st he was elected as a member of the Sacramento City Council and became its President on August 25th. During this time he became a partner with Baker and McGhee in a store where he organized a meeting of Oddfellows on August 20th, for the purpose of providing assistance and relief to brother Oddfellows who were suffering from illness and distress from their overland or ocean voyage, and to bury the dead.

Winn's first order of business when he became President of the City Council was to ensure that the dead were provided a coffin for burial. Prior to then, the dead were buried in their blanket, in which they were sewn. He also was involved in the establishment of Grace Episcopal Church in Sacramento during August of 1849.

Winn was an active member of the Freemasons Lodge (called first, the Conneticut, later the Tehama Lodge). He was instrumental in establishing a hospital for widows and orphans as a joint venture between the Oddfellows and the Masons on land which he donated.

The flood of January 1850 ruined the entire stock of Winn, Baker & McGhee and the business failed. Winn entered into a partnership with A. C. Latson on February 28, 1850, advertising their business as builders and lumber merchants. When Sacramento City became chartered on February 23rd, an election was held for new city officers. Hardin Bigelow was elected Mayor and took office on April 1st and Winn relinquished his position as Mayor.

Winn's previous military experience in Mississippi led to his appointment as an officer in the California State Militia. On April 10th, the California Legislature passed a resolution appointing A. M. Winn as Brigidier-General. Governor Peter Burnett approved his appointment and four year later he was reappointed by Governor John Bigler. During the Squatters Riots of 1850, Winn issued a Proclamation declaring Martial Law and brought 500 members of the State Militia to patrol the streets of Sacramento City to guard against further civil unrest. In October, Winn participated in effecting a swift resolution to the Coloma Indian troubles in El Dorado County.

During the Cholera Epidemic of October - November 1850, Winn used his entire stock of lumber making coffins to bury the dead at his own expense.

Winn became a member of the Sons of Temperance in 1853 and organized the Winn Division # 220 in Sacramento. He became a member of the Sacramento Pioneers Association on November 11, 1855.

In 1857 Winn bought 1/5 interest in a syndicate which had purchased 3/4 of all land that John Sutter had claimed in what became Sutter county. Winn owned 2,700 acres along the Sacramento River in Sutter County, called "Winn's Ranch" where he built a landing where riverboats could stop which came to be known as "Winn's Landing". While living there he became the first president of the California Swamp Land Commission.

Winn took a run at political office but was defeated in a bid for the California legislature, Shortly after, in 1860, Winn and his wife moved to San Francisco where he engaged in the business of real estate. His wife Catherine died in 1862. On September 16, 1865, Albert married Charlotte L. King, the widow of the crusading editor of The San Francisco Bulletin, James King of William, who had been shot to death by James P. Casey in 1856.

Albert M. Winn was active in campaigning for the early labor movement in the 1860's. He took the lead in the Carpenter's Union's effort to enact legislation for an eight-hour workday in 1867. The Mechanics State Council was formed in 1867 at Winn's suggestion. He drafted their constitution and bylaws, and served as their first President. In 1869, Winn traveled to the eastern states where he spent several months pressing for federal legislation for an eight-hour day.

A. M. Winn founded the Native Sons of the Golden West. The N.S.G.W. was originally organized for an Independence Day Parade in 1875. Winn called the first meeting of the N.S.G.W. on July 11, 1875 at Anthony's Hall on Bush Street. At this first meeting was adopted a Constitution and By-Laws. Winn was made an Honorary member of the Native Sons. The following Fourth of July, Winn founded the Sons of the American Revolution, originally the Sons of the Revolutionary Sires, when he organized the descendants of the Revolutionary War to march in the Independence Day Parade at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1876. This organization elected Winn as their first President, an office he held for five years.

In 1878, Winn moved to Sonoma where he died August 26, 1883 on a ranch owned by his step-son near El Verano, Sonoma County. He was buried at the Pioneer Plot in the City Cemetery in Sacramento. The funeral Procession began from Pioneer Hall on 7th Street and included members of every Fraternal body and civic organization as well as the entire congregation of Grace Church. This remarkable individual who had been instrumental in the founding of so many civic, religious and fraternal organizations, was memorialized by the city of Sacramento with the dedication of Winn Park at 28th and P Streets and the A. M. Winn Elementary School at 3351 Explorer Drive.

Letter to his wife

My Dearest Catherine,

It has been more than three years since I left for Californy in January of 1849. It is my consummate belief that I could not tolerate another year without you at my side. Please hasten to make preparations for your journey to these Golden Shores. Alonzo will accompany you to protect you and I will meet your ship when it arrives at San Francisco. You will want to take the new route through Nicaragua, as the Panama route is plagued with ruffians and banditti. There are steam ship lines from New Orleans all the way to San Francisco and Sacramento City now and your journey will be faster than in the old days by at least two months.
Sacramento City has improved greatly, ere I arrived in June of 1849. Nowadays, there are board structures going up everywhere within the limits of the town, many of them have been put up by carpenters employed by Winn & Latson Company. Business has been increasing steadily since the floods of 1850. These problems are now in the past, and God willing, we will have no further disruption to our business enterprise.
I hope that I did not cause you any fright by my last letter. You may recollect that I wrote about the time the merchants had formed a Committee of Vigilance last year? It seems that Sacramento City was being frequented by a certain class of loafers and ne’er–do-wells who were committing robberies and murders on an almost daily basis. Since the Vigilantes hanged a few of them, the remainder lit out for parts unknown and Sacramento City has returned to a condition of relative peacefullness.
My darling, I pray that you and Alonzo will depart from Vicksburg instanter, and proceed without delay to Sacramento City. I await the news that you have started your journey and the particulars about the date of your arrival.

Madam, I remain,
your humble servant,
Albert