History of Edward Winn and Mary Ann Trinniman*
By Ida H. West
Edward Winn was born December 3, 1840 at Eltham County,
London, England. Mary Ann Trinniman was born October 8,
1842 at Woolwich, Deptford, London, England. Her mother was Elizabeth Sarah Williams born July 16, 1816 at
Woolwich, Kent County, England. Mary Ann was the third child in a family of seven children. She spent her girlhood days in Woolwich.
Mary Ann as a happy, gay, congenial person. It was fashionable in those days to have small feet and wear small shoes. One day as Mary Ann was walking across the village green her feet hurt so badly that she fainted. She loved to dance and greatly enjoyed the ballet. She and a girl friend decided that they wanted to join the ballet and decided to apply to the ballet company. When their parents found out they put an end to their dreams.
One day the Mormon Elders came to their home in Woolwich bringing the glad message of the restored church. Mary Ann’s father was the first of the family to accept the gospel message.
Soon Mary Ann’s mother and all the children eight years old and over were baptized into the
Church.
When Mary Ann was seventeen years old her father became ill. On New Year’s Eve Mary Ann’s mother sent her to the drugstore to buy some leeches which were used to suck the blood and was supposed to cure certain diseases. When she returned with them her father had died.
Edward Winn was born in Eltham, Kent County, England, a suburb of London on December 3, 1840. Edward was of
Welsh decent. He was the fifth child in a family of thirteen children. He was the son of William Winn and Jane Best.
William Winn was born at Cherrington, Kent County,
England. Jane Best, Edward’s mother, was born December
8, 1814, at Sunbright, Kent County, England. (Another record gives Jane Best’s birth as January 17, 1817).
Edward left Eltham when he was fourteen years of age and was apprenticed to learn the boilermaker trade at Woolwich. He worked in Woolwich Arsenal for six years. He then worked
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in Woolwich dockyards and learned to make boilers for ships. During his youth he worked in
Scotland hapeirs shipyards on the river Clyde. He also worked in Ireland. He joined the church when he was 19 years old.
While working in the arsenal dockyards in Woolwich, he met Mary Ann Trinniman who became his companion. Mary Ann was 18 years of age. After a courtship of four months they were united in marriage on August 6, 1860 in St. Luke’s Church in the Parish of Charlton.
After their marriage they lived in Woolwich one year and then moved into London. They rented rooms in Pomeroy Street where Edward kept a clothing and furniture store. He didn’t stay in this business very long as his interests was in ship building. He longed to be back at his trade.
After one year in Pomerey Street, London, they moved to Chatham, thirty miles north of London where he found work in the shipyards. Edward became superintendent of the first ship that was built with six-inch armor plate. The ship was named Calitea. After ths ship was launched they moved back to Deptford, about five miles from London. He worked in the shipyards there. They next went to Rothride where he helped in the construction of Black Friar’s Bridge in London, one of the largest aerial bridges in London. When the bridge was finished they went back to North
Woolwich where he had the opportunity to assist in building a large floating dock. The dock was
480 feet long and 25 feet wide. The dock contained four and one half million rivets. After it was finished the dock was taken to the West Indies. Edward was given the contract to build the gates for it and thus Edward was obliged to go on the ship with it.
Three children were born to them while in England. Mary Ann, Edward and Elizabeth. Edward was assigned to go to India for two years. Mary Ann remained in England for two years while
Edward was in India.
Edward Sr. worked in Bermuda, the main island, but he visited many of the other islands. The work was hard in the hot climate. A little rhyme Edward repeated on his return to England stayed with his family for many years:
Hail Bermuda, happy land
Nothing here but rocks and sand
Rocks and sand and prickly pears
Lazy women in rocking chairs.
Soon after Edward’s return they decided to come to America. Edward left to find work and to find a home for his wife and children in the new land. Six months later, Mary Ann and the three children made the journey. It was a long tiresome voyage crossing the ocean with the three little children to care fore. One day while Mary Ann was walking on deck with Elizabeth in her arms,
Edward and Mary Ann hanging to her, Edward stepped on her dress. She gave her dress a pull,
Edward lost his balance, fell and rolling off the deck. She was panic stricken, thinking he had fallen overboard, but in a few minutes some sailors brought him safe and sound to her. They had caught him on the lower deck. Both hands were full of candy which they had given him, and he
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was greatly enjoying himself.
The family was very happy to unite again in America. Edward had purchased a store in New
York before Mary Ann and children arrived. He sold secondhand clothing, groceries and candy.
They lived in New York for two years. While in New York their fourth child, Emily, was born
August 15, 1870. This was my mother.
While in New York they were saving, preparing and looking forward to the day when they could join an emigrant group of Saints and journey to the wonderful land of Zion. While Emily was still a baby they began their journey to join the Saints in Salt Lake City. They arrived in Salt
Lake City in 1871. They lived there for two years. Their fifth child, George John Winn was born in Salt Lake on October 25, 1872.
As the Saints arrived, President Brigham Young assigned them to make settlements in different localities to build up communities and towns in the surrounding territories. Edward Winn was assigned to Lehi, (when George John was probably born) and then to Highland, two miles north of American Fork. It was named Highland as the elevation was higher and nearer the mountains.
The soil was very rocky and there was very little water. It was a real struggle for grandmother and grandfather. They had a hard time to make a living and they experienced many hardships.
They often became discouraged, but grandfather was a hard worker. Edward, being a shipbuilder, knew nothing about farming and his interests and desires were to be a builder. But he worked hard and years later he was known to have one of the best grape vineyards in the west.
Grandfather, being a builder, was handy with saw and hammer and he built them a two room log house and soon their little home was furnished with table, chair, cupboards and beds made from the lumber he brought from the mountains.
Grandfather Winn also worked at the Silver King Mine in American Fork Canyon, also did some prospecting, several times he came near losing his life. At one time as he and some other men were coming off shift a snow slide came down the mountain and buried them under the snow.
One man, John Pool, was killed, one man’s feet were so badly frozen that it was necessary to amputate them. My grandfather and several other men were dug from the snow by the Chinese cook before they were frozen. At another time while grandfather Winn was climbing the mountain trail to the mine, carrying about sixty pounds of meat on his back, he sat down to rest, looking back he saw a mountain lion following him. He had no gun so his only hope was to reach the shack before the lion overtook him. He reached it, out of breath, a very frightened man, thankful that his life had been spared. He also had a blacksmith shop where he made horseshoes, sharpened mining tools and made tools for other farmers.
While at Highland, five more children were born to them: Jane Amelia born September 30, 1875,
James Henry, June 10, 1878, Ada Bell, July 15, 1882, Zellie Gladys, July 30, 1885, Ethel May,
October 7, 1888, making a family of ten children.
There was no schools in Highland. My mother had had very little opportunity to attend school.
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When the weather was fair in the fall and in the springtime, grandfather drove the children in the wagon to school in American Fork. Their only means of recreation was family parties in the winter and picnics in the summer. There were very few families living in Highland and they lived some distance from each other. They also enjoyed dances in the winter. In the summer the family went to the North East Grove in American Fork, to Utah Lake Resort, and to Hanson’s Hollow for picnics.
Each of grandmother’s girls went to Salt Lake and found work when they were about fourteen years of age. It was a hard struggle for Grandfather and Grandmother Winn to feed and clothe their family. Grandmother was known by her many friends and neighbors for her friendliness and kind hospitality. Their home was a gathering place for many parties and dances.
When grandfather was working in the mines grandmother cooked, served, knitted the stockings and all other tasks of early pioneer life and helped the boys with the farm work and caring for the cows, horses, hogs, chickens and sheep.
Grandmother’s sunny smile turned into sadness in February of 1893, when the dreadful diphtheria epidemic invaded their home. All of the children at home came down with the disease.
James Henry, age 16, Ada Bell ate 12, Zellie Gladys, age ?, All died within 2 weeks from this dreadful disease. Ethel May, then five years old, was very sick and not expected to live. When the prescribed medicine which was only known remedy was given to the children, they screamed with pain. When the medicine was to be administered to Ethel, they didn’t have the heart to give it to her. They could see she was near death and they could not make her suffer more. Ethel May was not given the medication and she survived. Grandmother and grandfather were over come with grief at the loss of their dear ones. Grandmother felt that it was almost more than she could bear. Ethel May, a very sad and lonely girl was the only one left in the home of ten children.
Edward, George, Mary, Jane and Emma were married. The Eastman family was one of their nearest neighbors. They had a large family of children and were having a difficult time to feed and clothe them. My grandmother went to visit them and asked if she could take one of their children as Ethel was very lonely with out her sisters and brothers. Mrs. Eastman, feeling so sorry for the bereaving mother, let her little daughter Ida, age six years old go and live with the Winn
Family. She lived with them for several years and was loved as one of their own family. There was sadness and loneliness again in the Winn family when the Eastman family moved from
Highland and took Ida with them.
At the time of the diphtheria epidemic when my grandmother and grandfather lost three children, their oldest daughter Mary Ann (married to Robert Jones) was living in Alpine, about 1 mile north of their home in Highland. Aunt Mary and uncle Robert had four children, Fredric age thirteen, Ada age 11, Esther, age 6 and Rose age 2. A short time after grandmother and grandfather lost their three children, Aunt Mary and uncle Robert lost three oldest children,
Fredric, Ada, and Ester from the dreaded disease and their baby Rose was their only child left.
The loss to aunt Mary of losing her brothers and sisters was almost as great as losing her own children. The children had enjoyed such happy time together, and when this great tragedy took the lives of six of their family, they felt that they could never be happy again, but as mother and
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daughter they gained some consolation from each other.
Grandfather, grandmother, Mary Ann and Edward, worked together for many years on their homesteads in Highland. They suffered many trials and hardships, but they had many happy memories of family gatherings and happy times together. For instance, on Thanksgiving and
Christmas, they would pile into sleds or in a wagon with hot rocks on fresh straw to keep their feet warm and quilts and blankets to snuggle under, especially when the snow was over the fences. When we arrived at the gate of grandmother’s she and grandfather and Ethel met us, waving and so happy to have all the aunts and uncles and cousins there in the little three-room house. Such wonderful times as we had togther. I can see it to this day. They had a long table in the kitchen, the adults ate first, while the children waited, wondering if they would ever stop eating. In the evening they danced to uncle George’s fiddle playing, they had programs and a big time. When the children got tired they would take their blankets and go to sleep in the little bedroom. It was hard being awakened late at night, to be loaded into sleighs for the long, cold ride home. Such pleasant memories!
In 1910, they decided to sell their farm and move to American Fork. Edward was then almost seventy years old. The children had all left the home except their youngest daughter, Ethel.
Edward was not able to take care of so much land alone. They sold their farm and rented a house with a small lot in the northeast part of American Fork. They greatly enjoyed their little cottage where they could visit with their many neighbors and friends. But they had only been in this home for six months when Edward became ill and died on August 19, 1910, at the age of seventy. They had ten children, forty-eight grandchildren and seventy-nine great grandchildren.
Edward was a man of noble character and strong convictions. He was wise in his decisions, firm in his sense of right and wrong. He was highly respected by all who knew him.
Grandmother and aunt Ether moved into our adobe home, after we moved to the farm. Aunt
Ether married Earl Carlisle from Alpine in a quite family wedding in the parlor by our bishop.
They had three children. Grandmother spent her remaining years in her rocking chair mending socks. In the summer, she sat on the front porch in her little white shawl and organdy apron; the shawl was as white as her beautifully kept hair. She died October 27, 1929, at the age of 87.
We children played on the lawn and when we sat on the porch to rest, she would tell us stories of the old days which were unappreciated and soon forgotten. How I wish we had those stories now.
How much more we would love to know them, their childhood, their parents and grandparents.
That is why I want what we have to be read in years to come by all those yet to come, when we are no longer here to tell them. We are grateful for the sacrifices they made for us and we unitedly say:
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* Spelling of Mary Ann Trinniman’s last name varies in family records as, Trinnimin,
Trinnaman, Trinnamon, Trinnamion or others.
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