Microsoft Word - Chapter 11 - The Chinn Family

Brenda Perkins of Baton Rouge provided the following article from the the Times-Picayune which published a copy of an obituary printed in the West Baton Rouge Sugar Planter on the 5th of May 1888:

Bolling Robert Chinn

We copy from the West Baton Rouge Sugar Planter the following deserved tribute to a highly esteemed citizen of that parish, who departed this life at his home on 24th ult:

Bolling Robertson Chinn was born in West Feliciana on the 23d of June, 1825. His parents removed to this parish in 1827. In 1848 he married Miss Frances S. Conrad, daughter of Mr. F. D. Conrad, of East Baton Rouge. Major Chinn was a volunteer in the Mexican war, through which he served with distinction. Upon the breaking out of the civil war he organized in this parish the Lemmon Guards, of which he was made captain. In the battle of Baton Rouge, in which he was wounded, Major Chinn, in charge of Bynum’s Brigade, displayed a degree of bravery and coolness, under the most trying circumstances, that elicited the warm admiration of his comrades.

He was taken prisoner at the surrender of Port Hudson and sent to Johnston’s Island, where he remained almost until Lee’s surrender. Upon being exchanged he was immediately promoted to the rank of major and made every effort to get his old command together but before he could do so peace was declared. Major Chinn then returned to his old home in this parish, where he found ruin and desolation where once had been peace and prosperity. Nothing daunted, he set to work with a vim to retrieve his lost fortune, and pursued the occupation of a planter on his old home place until 1885, when he removed to East Baton Rouge, where he remained up to the time of his death. He was elected to the Legislature in 1866, being the first representative from this parish after the war and before Radical rule.

Patriotic and loyal in his devotion to his native state, firm and courageous in any cause he espoused, he never faltered in the discharge of his duty, however trying the ordeal. A recent instance will serve as an illustration of his devotion to duty, even in the face of the shadow of death. On the occasion of the late general election, although then dangerously ill and unable to stand alone, he insisted upon being placed in a buggy and driven to the polls, where, not being able to get out, the ballot-box was brought to him in order that he might deposit his last vote for the Democratic ticket – the party he loved so well and served so faithfully.

Major Bolling R. Chinn was a typical Southerner – a distinguished member of the school of courtly and polished gentleman that is, alas! so rapidly passing away. Brave, charitable and generous to a fault; kind and indulgent as a husband and father; conscientious in the performance of all his duties as a citizen, he embodied within himself those admirable traits and virtues that go to make up the highest type of man. He leaves a wife, six children and a large circle of friends and relative to mourn his loss. May the sod be ever green on his grave!

The father of the deceased, Hon. Thomas Withers Chinn, was a native of Kentucky. He emigrated to Louisiana at an early day, and subsequently was elected to Congress, representing this State with honor from 1839 to 1841, and was subsequently appointed United States minister to the kingdom of the Four Sicilies. He was the personal friend of Clay, Webster and President Taylor, and stood among the first of the Whig statesmen of his day. His son was a worthy descendant of such distinguished stock.