Marriage of Charlie Johns and Eunice Winstead
Eunice Johns, Charlie Johns, and Mrs. Lewis Winstead (née Martha Elizabeth Harris)
The marriage of Sneedville, Tennessee residents 22-year-old Charlie Johns and 9-year-old Eunice Winstead, was a child marriage that took place in the state of Tennessee, United States, in January 1937. The event received national attention after Life magazine published an article about the union the following month.
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 the jurisdictions of Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. introduced similar laws. The couple remained married after the Tennessee law was passed, and the marriage lasted until Johns' death in 1997. Johns and Winstead had nine children.