 His grandfather and great-grandfather had both served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and his paternal grandfather Joseph Chinn was twice elected to the U.S. Congress, but this Joseph Chinn only continued his family's lawyerly tradition.Judge Chinn was raised at his family home, Wilna, in Richmond County, Virginia south of Warsaw, Virginia.He attended Colonel Council’s School in King and Queen County, Virginia and, after teaching for several years in Louisiana and South Carolina, decided to study law.