Editing Richard Mentor Johnson (section)

==Marriage and family==
{{See also|Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States|List of federal political sex scandals in the United States}}
[[File:An affecting scene in Kentucky LCCN2008661287 Crop.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|"An affecting scene in Kentucky," a racist cartoon by [[Henry R. Robinson]] mocking Johnson's mixed-race family and political allies, 1836]]
Family tradition holds that Johnson broke off an early [[Engagement|marital engagement]] when he was about sixteen because of his mother's disapproval.<ref name=hatfield /> Purportedly Johnson vowed revenge for his mother's interference. His former fiancée later gave birth to his daughter, named Celia, who was raised by the Johnson family. Celia Johnson later married Wesley Fancher, one of the men who served in Johnson's regiment at the Battle of the Thames.

After his father died, Richard Johnson inherited [[Julia Chinn]], an [[octoroon]] mixed-race woman (seven-eighths European and one-eighth African in ancestry), who was born into slavery around 1790. She had grown up in the Johnson household, where her mother served.<ref name=uva>''Richard M. Johnson (1837–1841)''</ref><ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 51–53.</ref> Julia Chinn was the daughter of Benjamin Chinn,<ref>Great Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, VT p1 The Freeman for The Freeman Developments of the "Peculiar Institution."</ref> who was living in Malden, Upper Canada, or London, Canada, and a sister of Daniel Chinn.  An 1845 letter from Newton Craig, Keeper of the [[Kentucky State Penitentiary in Frankfort|Penitentiary in Frankfort, Kentucky]], to Daniel Chinn, mentions another brother of Julia Chinn named Marcellus, who accompanied Col. Johnson on his first electioneering tour for vice-presidency.  Marcellus left Col. Johnson in New York, whereupon Col. Johnson tried to find Marcellus' whereabouts from Arthur Tappan, Esq.<ref>''Green Mountain Freeman'', Montpelier, VT June 20, 1845 p.1 "The Freeman: for The Freeman. Developments of the 'Peculiar Institution.'" Via Library of Congress, [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84023209/1845-06-20/ed-1/seq-1/ Chronicling America]</ref><ref>''Vermont Phoenix'', Brattleboro, VT, Vol. XV, No. 30, July 18, 1845, "The Workings of Slavery." Via [http://fair-use.org/the-liberator/1845/07/25/the-liberator-15-30.pdf Fair Use Repository]</ref>

Though Chinn was legally Johnson's concubine, he began a long-term [[Intimate relationship|relationship]] with her and treated her as his [[Common-law marriage in the United States|common-law wife]], which was legal in Kentucky at the time. They had two daughters together and she later became manager of his plantation.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 3–4, 8–9.</ref> Both Johnson and Chinn championed the "notion of a diverse society" by their multi-racial, predominately white family. They were prohibited from marrying because she was a slave.<ref name=mills>Mills, ''The Vice-President and the Mulatto''</ref> When Johnson was away from his Kentucky plantation, he authorized Chinn to manage his business affairs.<ref name=hatfield /> She died in the [[1826–1837 cholera pandemic|widespread cholera epidemic]] that occurred in the summer of 1833. Johnson deeply grieved her loss.<ref name=bevins>Bevins, ''Richard M Johnson narrative: Personal and Family Life''</ref>

The relationship between Johnson and Chinn shows the contradictions within slavery at the time. There were certainly numerous examples that "kin could also be property". Johnson was unusual for being open about his relationship and treating Chinn as his common-law wife. He was heard to call her "my bride" on at least one occasion, and they acted like a married couple. According to oral tradition, other slaves at Great Crossings were said to work on their wedding.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 54–56. Their social role as a married couple was recognized by neighbors.</ref>

Chinn gradually gained more responsibilities. As she spent much of her time in the "plantation's big house", a two-story brick home, she managed Johnson's estate for at least half of each year, with her purview later expanding to all of his property, even acting as "Richard's representative" and allowing her to handle money.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 56–58.</ref> This gave, as historical scholar Christina Snyder argues, some independence, since Johnson told his white employees that Chinn's authority must be respected, and her role allowing her children's lives to be different from "others of African descent at Great Crossings", giving them levels of privileged access within the plantation. This was further complicated by the fact that Chinn was still enslaved but supervised the work of slaves, which the Chinn family never sold or mortgaged off, but she did not have the power to "challenge the institution of slavery or overturn the government that supported it", she only had the power to gain some personal autonomy, with Johnson never legally emancipating her.<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 59–60, 62–63. Despite this, Johnson did
liberated other black slaves.</ref> This may have been because, as Snyder says, liberating her from human bondage would erode "ties that bound her to him" and keeping her enslaved supported his idea of being a "benevolent patriarch".

Johnson and Chinn had two daughters, Adaline (or Adeline) Chinn Johnson and Imogene Chinn Johnson, whom he acknowledged and gave his surname to, with Johnson and Chinn preparing them "for a future as free women".<ref>Snyder, ''Great Crossings'', pp. 53, 63, 66–67.</ref> Johnson taught them morality and basic literacy, with Julia undoubtedly teaching her own skills, with both later pushing for both of them to "receive regular academic lessons" which he later educated at home to prevent the scorn of neighbors and constituents. Later Johnson would provide for Adaline and Imogene's education.<ref name=bevins /><ref name=mills /> Both daughters married white men. Johnson gave them large farms as dowries from his own holdings.<ref name=stillman /> There is confusion about whether Adeline Chinn Scott had children; a 2007 account by the Scott County History Museum said she had at least one son, Robert Johnson Scott (with husband Thomas W. Scott) who became a doctor in [[Missouri]].<ref name=Snyder/><ref name=bevins /> Meyers said that she was childless.<ref name=meyer322>Meyer, p. 322</ref> There is also disagreement about the year of her death. Bevins writes that Adeline died in the 1833 cholera epidemic.<ref name=bevins /> Meyers wrote she died in 1836.<ref name=meyer322/> The [[Library of Congress]] notes that she died in February 1836.<ref>[http://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/DisplayCartoonMedium.asp?MaxID=&UniqueID=5&Year=1836&YearMark= "An Affecting Scene in Kentucky"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619045422/http://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/DisplayCartoonMedium.asp?MaxID=&UniqueID=5&Year=1836&YearMark= |date=June 19, 2008 }}, political print (c.1836), ''Harper's Weekly'', at Library of Congress, accessed November 12, 2013</ref>

Although Johnson treated these two daughters as his own, according to Meyers, the surviving Imogene was prevented from inheriting his estate at the time of his death. The court noted she was illegitimate, and so without rights in the case. Upon Johnson's death, the Fayette County Court found that "he left no widow, children, father, or mother living." It divided his estate between his living brothers, John and Henry.<ref name=meyer322323>Meyer, pp. 322–323</ref>

Bevins's account, written for the Georgetown & Scott County Museum, says that Adeline's son Robert Johnson Scott,<ref name=Snyder/> her first cousin, Richard M. Johnson, Jr., and Imogene's family (husband Daniel Pence, first daughter Malvina and son-in-law Robert Lee, and second daughter and son-in-law Josiah Pence)<ref name=Snyder/> "acquired" Johnson's remaining land after his death.<ref name=bevins />

After Chinn's death, Johnson began an [[intimate relationship]] with another family slave.<ref name=mcqueen19>McQueen, p. 19</ref> When she left him for another man, Johnson had her picked up and sold at auction. Afterward he began a similar relationship with her sister, also a slave.<ref name=mcqueen19 /><ref name=stimpson>Stimpson, p. 133</ref>