[2] Jeneverah (alternately, "Jenevehah" or "Geneverah")[3][4][5] Maria Pray was born in Orrville, New York, May 11, 1837.

Her father, a native of Rhode Island, was educated in Oxford University, England, and became a preacher.

Her mother, the daughter of an English earl and otherwise related to some of England's nobility, was very highly educated and wrote considerable prose and poetry, some of which was published in book form, under a pen name.

[3][7] Many of Winton's poems were printed and copied extensively, under some pen name or unsigned, in magazines and other periodicals.

[3][7] While living in Indianapolis, Indiana, and other cities of the West, her productions were identified and copied in various parts of the U.S.

[6][8] For nearly two years, to escape the hardship associated with a northern climate, she resided in southern New Jersey, among the rustic surroundings of her farm on Landis avenue, East Vineland.