JOSEPH WINFIELD SCOTT. Since 1897 a member of the Harriman bar, Mr. Scott is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of Roane County, and is a special authority on the branch of real estate and land-titles law. He is a senior member of the firm of Scott, Chandler & Anderson, the several members of which represent special ability and success in all branches of the law.
J. W. Scott was born in Morgan County, Tennessee, and his family have been well known and prominent in the state for upwards of a century. His parents were John L. and Perlesia (Holloway) Scott, both of whom were natives of Morgan County, the former born in 1832 and died in 1907, and the mother born in 1834 and now living, in her seventy-ninth year. One of the first settlers in Morgan County, Tennessee, in 1821, was the great-grandfather, Samuel Scott, who came to this state from Kentucky. He had formerly lived in Virginia and in North Carolina, had served in the Revolutionary War and was in the battle of Kings Mountain. He was a colonel in the War of 1812, his common title in his community in later years being “colonel.” Grandfather Russell Scott was born in Kentucky, and was very young when the family moved to Morgan County, Tennessee. He was a substantial farmer in Morgan County during the remainder of his life. Russell Scott was a brother of Julian F. Scott, a very prominent politician in Morgan County, and who is said to have furnished the character for the Colonel Sellers, made famous in Mark Twain’s book under the title “The Gilded Age.” Grandfather Joseph Holloway was a soldier in the War of 1812.
The late John L. Scott, the father, was a farmer by occupation, and spent many years of his career in the public service. He was clerk of the county court, and also county register, holding office altogether for twenty years. As a Democrat in politics, and a man who was accounted a good liver, he was very popular and genial among all his friends and associates. He was a member of the Baptist Church in which he took much interest, and his wife has been a Presbyterian all her life. Of their nine children, six are still living.
J. W. Scott had to work for his support and advancement, and was identified with different occupations before he took up his profession. His early education was obtained in the common schools of Morgan County, and later he read law under able preceptors, being admitted to the bar in 1897. He at once located in Harriman, and has since built up a large general practice.
In 1878 Mr. Scott married Miss Dillie Long, of North Carolina, and they were the parents of one child. Lawrence, who is now in the insurance business in Harriman. Mrs. Scott died in 1881, and her husband afterwards married Sarah J. Smith, of Post Oak Springs. The children of their marriage are: Clay, who is manager of the picture show in Harriman; Mabel, the wife of Thomas N. Smith, of Maysville, Kentucky; and Lloyd, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Scott are members of the Christian Church, and fraternally Mr. Scott is a Chapter Mason, and has served as master of the Masonic lodge two terms, and is a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He is a Democrat, and for two terms was clerk of the circuit court in Morgan County. In 1897-99 he was mayor of Harriman.
Source: Hale, Will T, and Dixon L. Merritt. A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Company, 1913. Volume 5.
