John C. Frémont's mother, Anne Beverley Whiting, was the youngest daughter of socially prominent Virginia planter Col. Thomas Whiting. The colonel died when Anne was less than a year old. Her mother married Samuel Cary, who soon exhausted most of the Whiting estate. At age 17, Anne married Major John Pryor, a wealthy Richmond resident in his early 60s. In 1810, Pryor hired Charles Fremon (Louis Rene Frémon b. 1768 in Quebec), a French-Canadian immigrant who had escaped from a British prison, to tutor his wife. In July 1811, Pryor learned that his wife, Anne Whiting Pryor, and Fremon were having an affair. Confronted by Pryor, the couple left Richmond together on July 10, 1811, creating a scandal that shook city society.[5] Pryor published a divorce petition in the Virginia Patriot, in which he charged that his wife had "for some time past indulged in criminal intercourse."
Mrs. Pryor and Fremon moved first to Norfolk, Virginia, to live as man and wife (though unmarried); they later settled in Savannah, Georgia. Mrs. Pryor financed the trip and purchase of a house in Savannah by selling recently inherited slaves valued at $1,900. When the Virginia House of Delegates refused Mr. Pryor's divorce petition, it was impossible for the couple to marry. In Savannah, Mrs. Pryor took in boarders while Fremon taught French and dancing. On January 21, 1813, their first child, John Charles Fremon, was born.[6] The son was born out of wedlock, a serious social handicap. A household slave called Black Hannah helped raise young John.[7]
In 1818, Frémont's father Fremon died, leaving Mrs. Pryor to take care of John and several young children alone on a limited inherited income.[8] Mrs. Pryor and her family moved to Charleston, South Carolina. The young Frémont was known to be "precious, handsome, and daring," and he had an apt ability at gaining protectors.[8] A lawyer, John W. Mitchell, provided for Frémont's education, and in May 1829 Frémont entered Charleston College. Frémont continued at Charleston College, while teaching at intervals in the countryside. He was expelled from the college for irregular attendance in 1831. Although Frémont did not graduate, he had been grounded in mathematics and natural sciences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Fr%C3%A9mont
