Chinn Family

Portrait of Mrs. Chinn located in the lobby of Chinn Park Regional Library

Mary Jane was born a third-generation slave ca. 1794 on a plantation near what is now Lake Ridge.  She married fellow slave Thomas Chinn, with whom she had 8 children: Henry, James, Oscar, John, William, George, Robert, and Fielder.  Like many slaves at the time, Mary Jane and Thomas continued to work on the plantation after emancipation, where Mary Jane served as a cook in the main house, and Thomas worked in the stables.  In 1889, after their former master, Henry F. Roe, died, the Chinn family purchased around 500 acres of land near the plantation for $3 an acre.  The family built houses on the land, and flourished through the generations in Prince William County, despite the difficulties created by racism and segregation at the time. 

When deciding what to name the new recreation center and park in 1989, the Prince William County Park Authority received a petition with hundreds of signatures to name the park after one of the few pre-Civil War families still residing in the county. 

REFERENCES:

Masters, B. (1989, December 14). Memorial to a Matriarch: Park Named for Woman Born a Slave in County. Washington Post, p. VA-1.

(1969, September 17). A Milestone for Mrs. Chinn. Potomac News, p. C-1