Charlotte Hyson was born into slavery on November 10, 1853 (some records say 1852) in then-named Alexandria County. Her enslaved mother was Margaret (Peggy) Hyson, and her father was Thornton Hyson, a free Black man. Both Charlotte and her mother were enslaved by William Minor, who lived in what is today North Arlington near Harrison Street and Little Falls Road. Charlotte would have been about 12 years old at the end of the Civil War.

                                                      Location of William Minor’s Farm

 

On August 2, 1859, William Minor died. His will, probated by the Alexandria County Court on January 3, 1860, shows Charlotte listed as property valued at $250. This same document lists all his enslaved people and their monetary worth in descending value, with Charlotte towards the end. She was considered “walking property” due to her young age of 6 years.

Minor bequeathed most of his enslaved people to his wife Catherine including Margaret Hyson. Charlotte, however, was given to his granddaughter, Margaret M. Newton, along with some household furnishings. Margaret was living with her grandmother after William died, so Charlotte remained at the Minor homestead with her family.

In 1870, Charlotte was 17 and living with her parents and five siblings, George, Ellen, Thornton, Cornelia, and Alice in the Hall’s Hill area of North Arlington. She worked as a domestic servant. The census that year noted that she could not write, but likely could read.

Many changes in Charlotte’s life happened over the next decades. On September 20, 1873, Charlotte “Lottie” Hyson wed Charles W. Chinn of Fairfax. By 1880, according to the census, Charlotte and her husband were living near her parents and had three daughters, Mary, Ida, and Margaret, and two sons, Charles and George. Charlotte is listed as “keeping house” and it is not known whether Charlotte could have sought any paid work outside the home with her responsibilities as a mother. Her husband was noted to be a laborer that year.  Charlotte and Charles had three more children before Charles’s death in 1891: Fannie, Mabel, and Robert.

On November 9, 1881, Charles and his Father-in-Law, Thornton, bought a 1-acre parcel of land for $108 from Bazil Hall, a farmer, landowner, and former slaveholder in the area. Sadly, Charlotte lost her father, on December 30, 1882, Charles in 1891, and her mother in 1892.

It is known that a close-knit community of former enslaved persons lived, raised families and had business concerns in Halls Hill, and Charlotte and her family remained in the area. Charlotte died on June 7, 1921, of a cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) at the age of 68. She was buried on June 10 at Calloway United Methodist Church in the Hall’s Hill area of North Arlington, just a few yards from her mother’s final resting place.

Gravestone of Margarent Hyson, Calloway Church Cemetery

Gravestone of Charlotte Hyson Chinn, Calloway Church Cemetery