 Upon returning to Virginia, Chinn studied law at the newly opened proprietary Needham Law School run by Judge Creed Taylor in Needham, Virginia.He married Mary Ann Smith (1802–1865), daughter of Charles Smith of Morattico Hall, who bore a son, also Joseph William Chinn (1836-1908) who inherited the plantation and fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, then became a lawyer and fathered Virginia Supreme Court justice Joseph W. Chinn (1866-1936).Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1821, this Joseph W. Chinn began his legal practice on Virginia's Northern Neck.