ERNEST W. CROWELL. One of the leading members of the Giles county bar is Ernest W. Crowell, of Pulaski, a native of Bedford county, who was born March 21, 1884, and a son of Hiram B. and Margaret Emily (Cook) Crowell. His paternal grandfather was John M. Crowell of North Carolina, who was of Dutch descent and married Lavina Pressgroves, a direct descendant of Pocahontas. The father entered the Methodist ministry at an early age and served as presiding elder of the North Methodist church for sixteen years. He died in 1921. His wife was of English descent and both the Crowell and Cook families were pioneers of Bedford county, Tennessee.

Ernest W. Crowell was educated in the public school of Bedford county and later entered Cumberland University, being graduated from the law department and receiving his LL. B. degree in 1906. He was reared upon a farm but after receiving his degree entered upon his profession in Pulaski, Tennessee, now occupying the offices where the original Ku Klux Klan was organized. He is one of the leading lawyers of Giles county, enjoying an extensive and representative clientage, and he handles much important litigation before the court.

On the 18th of December, 1912, Mr. Crowell was united in marriage to Miss Mary Lee Meadows, a daughter of Dr. J. A. Meadows of Bethel, Tennessee. She was born in 1889 and died in May, 1913.

Politically Mr. Crowell is a stanch republican and is actively interested in party affairs. He was republican elector in 1912 on the Hughes ticket for the state of Tennessee, and for some time he has been a member of the election commission of Giles county. He has also served as chairman of the republican committee of Giles county. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, Modern Woodmen of the World and the Masonic order. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church. No man stands higher in Pulaski for integrity and sterling worth and he well merits the success he has achieved. (Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923, Vol. 2, John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1923)