Thomas Withers CHINN, Congress, LA (1791-1852)

CHINN, Thomas Withers, (cousin of Robert Enoch Withers), a Representative from Louisiana; born near Cynthiana, Harrison County, Ky., November 22, 1791; attended the rural schools of his community and was also tutored by his father; served as a private in the First Rifles of the Kentucky Militia Volunteers from August 15, 1812, to October 14, 1812; clerked in a general store in Cynthiana until 1813; moved to Woodville, Miss., and engaged in mercantile pursuits; studied medicine and commenced the practice of his profession in St. Francisville, West Feliciana Parish, La., about 1817; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in St. Francisville; appointed judge of West Feliciana Parish in 1826; moved to Cypress Hall plantation, near Baton Rouge, in West Baton Rouge Parish, La., in 1831; continued the practice of law and also engaged in sugarcane planting; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1841); was not a candidate for renomination in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress; appointed by President Taylor as Minister to the Two Sicilies on June 5, 1849, but did not assume his duties because of ill health; died at his plantation in West Baton Rouge Parish, La., on May 22, 1852; interment at Grosse Tete, La., near Rosedale, La.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present