Family History

The Chinn line is one with deep roots in the United States and it's history. Some have traced the family back to the times of William the Conqueror in England, and while it is uncertain how accurate this information is, the family was definitely in England for many years, as Thomas Chinn can be traced to his birth in Norfolk in 1570. The name came to the United States early as well, in the late 1600s.  The Chinns are first in the United States with John Chinn, born in 1651. John settled in Northeastern Virginia, around Lancaster County, and married first Elizabeth Travers, and second Alice Stretchley. The line continues through a son of John and Elizabeth, Rawleigh Chinn. Rawleigh. married Margaret Ball Downman, a widow born into a prominent family in Northeastern Virginia.  Among the children of Rawleigh and Margaret was a son named Charles Downman Chinn, born in 1723. Charles married Sythe Davis in 1750, in Fauquier County, Virginia and it was there that the couple lived until Charles' death in 1788. At this point, Sythe and her children moved to Kentucky lands that Charles had left his sons in his will. It was there that Sythe died in 1824 at roughly 90 years old; she is buried in an unknown location in Harrison County.

One of Charles and Sythe's daughters was Susanna, born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1770. Susanna came to Kentucky with her mother and siblings and it was there that she married Robert Holmes. Susanna and Robert first lived in Lexington before moving to Scott County, where there children married into some of the most prominent families in the county. One of those daughters was Susan who married Mitchum Boswell Webb in Scott County, Kentucky on February 6, 1826. They had two daughters, Mary Boswell and Bettie Chinn. Bettie married John Allen Higgins in 1852 and together they were the parents of Alline Higgins Headley Rogers, the grandparents of Elisabeth Headley Garr and Frances Headley Carruth, and the great-grandparents of Elisabeth Garr Lawrence, Charlotte Garr Schubert, Frances Carruth Kerr, and Allen Higgins Carruth. 

The Chinn line also gives one of the most exciting relatives on the family tree. Margaret Ball Downman Chinn was the daughter of William Ball. One of William's brothers was named Joseph, and it is some of Joseph's descendants that bring this excitement. Joseph had two daughters, one named Esther, who married Rawleigh Chinn, a brother to John Chinn Jr. Joseph Ball's other daughter was Mary, married Augustine Washington, and had a son named George Washington, who went on to become the first President of the United States. What this means is that Margaret Ball Downman Chinn was a second cousin of George Washington. 

Though not a direct descendant of either line, Eliza Moore Chinn McHatton Ripley is a well-known descendent of both the Chinn and Holmes lines. Her father was Richard Henry Chinn, a grandson of Charles and Sythe Chinn. Her mother was Eliza Moore Holmes, a daughter of Robert and Susanna Chinn Holmes. This made her a first cousin to Mary Ford and Bettie Webb Higgins, the latter of whom was only 10 days younger than her. Though born in Kentucky, Eliza spent much of her childhood and young adult life in Louisiana. Her family would often come to visit her relatives in Kentucky, making sure to visit Susan Holmes Webb and her daughters in Scott County.