Eunice Johns, Charlie Johns, and Mrs. Lewis Winstead (née Martha Elizabeth Harris)[1]
The marriage of Sneedville, Tennessee residents 22-year-old Charlie Johns[2] and 9-year-old Eunice Winstead,[2] was a child marriage that took place in the state of Tennessee, United States, in January 1937.[3][4][5] The event received national attention after Life magazine published an article about the union the following month.[6]
In response to Johns and Winstead's marriage, the state of Tennessee introduced a law setting the minimum age of marriage at sixteen years. Only[7] the jurisdictions of Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. introduced similar laws.[6] The couple remained married after the Tennessee law was passed,[8] and the marriage lasted until Johns' death in 1997.[4] Johns and Winstead had nine children.
Marriage
On January 19, 1937, 22-year-old tobacco farmer Charlie Johns married his 9-year-old neighbor, Eunice Winstead.[3][9] The couple was joined by Baptist preacher Walter Lamb in Sneedville, Hancock County.[3][4][6] Johns paid Lamb a dollar (equivalent to $22in 2024) to perform the marriage.[10] To get to the wedding without her parents' knowledge, Winstead told them she was going out to get a doll.[11][12]
Johns falsified Winstead's age in order to obtain their marriage license.[13][3] At the time of their marriage, the state of Tennessee had no minimum age for marriage.[6] Winstead's mother had married at the age of sixteen, and her sister Ina married at thirteen.[3] Though the mothers of Johns and Winstead initially believed that Eunice was too young to marry, they ultimately decided to approve of the marriage.[14]
Reactions
Johns and Winstead's marriage was discovered by the press approximately ten days after the wedding.[11] It was then widely covered by American newspapers and magazines.[6] The union was reported by The Times and Life magazines, along with The New York Times. It also inspired the 1938 film Child Bride.[5] Johns avoided media attention, accusing reporters of making things up, and he did not allow any photographs to be taken of his wife and children.[11]
A 1937 piece published by Life about the case displayed a picture of Winstead and Johns at their home in Sneedville.[6] In a news article published that year, The Knoxville Journal reported that "The Winstead family seems complacent over the future of the 9-year-old bride because Charlie, the bridegroom, owns 50 acres of mountain land, several mules and he's a good farmer".[3][4] Another article in Newsweek portrayed Winstead sitting on Johns' knees.[15]
Reactions to the marriage triggered a change to the law in Tennessee, forbidding marriage of individuals under the age of 16, even if they had parental consent. It provided for exceptions in cases such as pregnancy.[16]
Later life
Winstead dropped out of school in 1937.[17] She attended school for two days but her husband pulled her out after she was switched for misbehaving.[18] State law was changed to reflect that married children were exempt from compulsory education.[19]
As of 1938 the couple still lived with Johns' parents.[20] They slept together in the same room.[10] In December 1942, at the age of fifteen, Winstead gave birth to the couple's first child. They subsequently had eight more children.[4][13] Johns objected when his oldest child, 17-year-old Evelyn, eloped in 1960 with 20-year-old John Antrican. He alleged that Antrican had falsified Evelyn's age to obtain a marriage license.[16] Johns and Winstead remained married until Johns' death in 1997. Winstead died in 2006.[4][13]
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