USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 6
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Mr. Rochell first started in business for himself in Jackson, Ten- nessee, but in 1890 he removed to Troy, where he took charge of his brother's business and purchased same the following year. Here he has built up a large patronage and established a reputation as one of the leading grocers of the busy little city and is now the oldest one in the town. His stock consists of a full line of staple and fancy groceries -the best and freshest that the market affords-and the people of Troy have a belief that if an article cannot be found at Rochell's, they will probably have to go to some other city to procure it. February 9, 1910,
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Mr. Rochell's place of business was completely destroyed by fire, caus- ing him a loss of about $6,000. He laughed at his disaster, however, and within a short time reestablished himself in his present quarters, where he has a room 24 by 70 feet well stocked with everything the good housewife is likely to need in her domestic economy. Good goods, full weight and correct business methods have ever been the principles that Mr. Rochell has applied to the management of his store, and the result is "once a customer, always a customer."
Mr. Rochell is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Methodist church. In his church and lodge, as well as in business and social life, he is a man whom it is well to know and one whose word can always be relied on in every particular. Mr. Rochell is unmarried.
JAMES F. FINLAY, son of James Finlay and Elizabeth Jane Finlay. Born at Greenville, S. C., September 4, 1882. Awarded B. A. degree at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., in 1906, and LL. D. at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., in 1908. Now en- gaged in the practice of law at Chattanooga, Tenn.
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 senior member of the firm of Scott, Chandler & Anderson, the sev- eral 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, Tenues- see, 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
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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. -
WALTER H. ANDERSON, the junior member of the well known law firm at Harriman of Scott, Chandler & Anderson, has been in practice at Harriman since 1910, and has already attained recognition as one of the rising young attorneys of the east Tennessee bar. Mr. Anderson educated himself, and while growing up contributed to the support of other members of the family, so that he is in every sense of the word a self-made man.
Walter H. Anderson was born in Wayne county, Kentucky, May 29, 1886, a son of Luke and Jane (Young) Anderson. The paternal grandfather was Jacob Anderson, a native of Whitley county, Ken- tucky, a farmer by occupation, and during the war was a member of the home guards. The maternal grandfather was James Young, born in Wayne county, Kentucky, and for many years a school teacher and farmer. Luke Anderson was born in Whitley county, Kentucky, June 8, 1853, and his wife was born in the same county in 1854. Both are still living, and during the earlier years the father followed the voca- tion of farming. Latterly he has been in the coal mining industry. They are both members of the Baptist church, and he is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. The six children in the family are mentioned as follows: John Marion, of Kentucky, Mary D., wife of J. L. Wilson of Chat- tanooga; Walter H .; Benjamin H., of Scott county, Tennessee; Edna, wife of Clarence Ramsey of Kentucky; and Eva, unmarried and living at home.
Walter H. Anderson attended the public schools of Scott county,
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Tennessee, afterwards had a course in the Williamsburg Institute in Kentucky, and in 1902, took a business course in the Knoxville Busi- ness College. For several years he was employed in clerical and other lines of work and in that way obtained the means to put him through law school. In 1908 he graduated in law from the Cumberland Uni- versity at Lebanon, and started to practice in Scott county, Tennessee. In 1910 he moved to Harriman, and there joined forces with Mr. J. W. Scott, one of the best known lawyers of east Tennessee.
On November 11, 1905, Mr. Anderson married Miss Emma Bowling, a daughter of William Bowling, who was born in Virginia, and came to Tennessee in 1866. He had previously served as a soldier in the Con- federate army, and was twice captured, being confined in the Federal prison in Ohio for a time, and for a time in New Jersey. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are: Stephen Arnold Douglas, aged seven; Gus Carr, aged four; and Walter H. Jr., born in 1913. Mrs. Anderson is a member of the Methodist Church South. Fraternally Mr. Anderson is affiliated with the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, the Knights of Pythias and the Masons, being past master of John Frizzell Lodge No. 592, A. F. & A. M., in Scott county. In politics he is Republican, but gives all his time to his legal profession, in which he is winning a worthy success.
WILLIS F. ARNOLD. The present postmaster of the city of Jackson, the judicial center of Madison county, is not only giving an able admin- istration of the affairs of this office, but has also achieved prominence and distinction as one of the representative younger members of the bar of this county, besides which he has been an influential figure in the councils of the Republican party in this section of the state. His char- acter and ability have admirably measured up to the requirements of the metewand of popular approbation, and his circle of friends is un- mistakably coincident with that of his acquaintances, the while he is recognized as one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of Mad- ison county.
Willis Fillmore Arnold is a scion of one of the old and honored fam- ilies of Tennessee and was born in Henderson county, this state, on the 10th of December, 1SS2. He is a son of Dr. John Martin Arnold and Laura Frances (Dodds) Arnold, both of whom were likewise born in Tennessee, their present home being in the city of Jackson. Dr. Arnold was graduated in the medical department of Vanderbilt University, as a member of the class of 1877, and was for thirty years engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Henderson county, whence he removed to Jackson in 1907. He is a man of high intellectual and pro- fessional attainments and has long been recognized as one of the repre- sentative physicians and surgeons of Tennessee. He is a stalwart Re- publican in his political proclivities and his wife holds membership in the Baptist church.
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The present postmaster of Jackson gained his early educational dis- cipline in his native county, and after attending the Georgia Robertson Christian College, at Henderson, he finally decided to prepare himself for the legal profession. With this end in view he was matriculated in what is now Union University, at Jackson, in the law department of which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1902 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, with ineidental admission to the bar of his native state. In 1904 he engaged in the aetive practice of his profession in Jackson, where he soon gained secure van- tage ground as an able advocate and well fortified counselor. He built up a substantial practice and continued to give his attention to the same until he was appointed postmaster of Jackson, on the 16th of April, 1911. From 1905 until 1911 he also served as deputy clerk of the United States district court.
Mr. Arnold has taken a specially deep interest in political affairs in his native state and has been prominently identified with the manœuver- ing of political forces in his home county. That he is here a leader in the ranks of the Republican party needs no further voucher than the state- ment that he has served consecutively as chairman of the Republican committee of Madison county since 1906, and that his ability in directing the affairs of the local party contingent has been proved in a most ef- fective way, the while he has created the minimum of antagonism and has gained the confidence and good will of the representative members of the opposing party as well as of those of his own party. His term as chairman of the committee will expire in 1914. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Tribe of Ben Hur, as well as other representative civic organizations in his home city, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church. It has consistently been said that Mr. Arnold is "a man of large views and conservative and dependable judgment."
On the 24th of April, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ar- nold to Miss Johnnie Johnston, daughter of John N. Johnston, a promi- nent citizen of Jackson, and she is a popular factor in the social activi- ties of her home city. They have one son, Willis E.
ROBERT LEE BYNUM. Another prominent educator of the state of Tennessee is Superintendent Robert Lee Bynum, now of Jackson. He has given generous service to the public schools of the state, both in the capacity of a teacher and as a superintendent. Both in county and city educational offices, he has done high credit to himself and to the colle- giate institutions of which he is an alumnus.
Robert Lee Bynum is a native of this state, but a son of Kentucky parents. His father, William J. Bynum, and his mother, Theresa Gil- bert Bynum, were living in Union City, Tennessee, where the former was a merchant and agriculturist, when the son was born whom they named Vol. V-4
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Robert Lee. The date of his birth was September 28, 1867. William J. Bynum died in 1874, but the mother of our subject is still living, in Jackson.
In the rural schools of the vicinity of Union City, Robert L. Bynum received his elementary education. He later became a student in the Vanderbilt Training School at Union City and subsequently entered Bethel College at Mckenzie, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.
The young Ph. B. gained his first teaching experience at Ashland, Mississippi. Returning thereafter to Tennessee, he held positions in schools in Obion county, gathering such experience and developing such ability that in 1897 he was elected superintendent of public instruction in Obion county. To this position he was successively re-elected, serv- ing in his office until October of 1901, at which time he entered upon the duties of the principalship which he had accepted from the Jackson Board of Education, serving two years as principal of the intermediate department and two years as principal of the high school. At the end of that period his fitness for county superintendency again led to his election to such office. He therefore took charge of the school system of Madison county and devoted his time and thought to supervising the schools and examining and directing the teachers of this county until tendered the superintendency of the Jackson schools. This latest posi- tion came to him on June 14, 1912, and he entered upon its duties August 1, 1912. The many interested and appreciative patrons of the Jackson public schools view with confidence the future of the city's most impor- tant enterprise-the education of her youth.
Superintendent Bynum is very well known throughout the state of Tennessee in all educational movements. From 1907 to 1909 he served as president of the Tennessee Public School Officers' Association. He is president of the Tennessee State Teachers' Association. . In both the Tennessee State Board of Education and the National Educational Asso- ciation he is an energetic member, as well as a prominent co-worker with his brother officials in the department of superintendents.
Mr. Bynum is a logical thinker along political lines. And while his political alignment is consistent with the famous name his parents be- stowed upon him, his civic theories are nevertheless based upon carefully reasoned premises. His religious convictions are of the modern practical type that conceives morality as the highest raison d'etre of religion ; he respects, therefore, all sects that aim for a high ethical standard and has a vigorous sympathy for each. His church membership is with the Jackson First Presbyterian church, U. S. A., of which Mrs. Bynum is also a member.
In her girlhood Mrs. Bynum was Miss Fanny Allen, her native home being Mississippi. The Allen-Bynum marriage took place in 1894. In the subsequent years three children have completed the family, and have
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been named as follows: William Jennings, Gattye Louise and Robert L. Bynum, Jr. The Bynum family has been counted a most desirable acqui- sition to the life of Jackson. Superintendent Bynum is noted as a man of genuine cordiality as well as of great executive ability. He is a member of the Masonic order, in Jackson lodge No. 332.
ROBERT GATES. Colonel Gates-by which name the subject of this review is affectionately known through all Tennessee and in many other Southern states-has lived a life that is not only eventful but full of valuable achievement for his state. Distinguished as a Confederate vet- eran, effective as an editor of prominence and influence, notably success- ful as a promoter of many movements for the economic and industrial upbuilding of Tennessee, his sum of human effort has been remarkable in kind and in result.
Though a native of Tennessee, the genealogical origin of Robert Gates is Virginian. His father, Benjamin Franklin Gates, was born in Chesterfield county of the Old Dominion state, but came at the age of twelve-with other members of his father's family-to Henry county, Tennessee. There he grew up, adopted the occupation of farming, mar- ried and reared his family; in Hayward county of this same state he died, at the home of his daughter, in 1898, having reached his eighty- third year. His wife was Elizabeth Jackson Roper, also a Virginian, and born near Lynchburg, Virginia; her mother was a member of the noted Lewis family, which produced such men as Gen. Andrew Lewis and Col. Charles Lewis, of Revolutionary fame. Elizabeth Jackson Roper Gates passed from mortal life when her son, our subject, was sixteen years of age. His birth had occurred at the Henry county home of the above-named parents on May 5, 1840.
.In the rural schools of his native vicinity, Robert Gates gleaned his ' preliminary education. He later pursued courses in West Tennessee College, which subsequently became Southwestern Baptist University and is now called Union University.
Having scarcely attained his majority at the outbreak of the Civil war, the young man nevertheless eagerly answered the call to arms on behalf of the South, and throughout his military experience he con- stantly maintained an attitude of courageous loyalty and of martial initiative. He enlisted as a private, his regiment being the Sixth Ten- nessee Infantry; when the Southern congress passed a law promoting members of this division to the rank of officers, he was made a lieuten- ant in the regular Confederate army. In this capacity he served in the Light Artillery, first with Smith's battery and subsequently with El- dridge's. With the latter, Lieutenant Gates continued until the battle of Murphysboro. After serving a period on the staff of Col. A. W. Campbell on special duty he then came west with General Forrest, carrying advance orders that the independent forces organized in west-
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ern Tennessee assemble at Jackson. There the general organized his army, which he commanded until the close of the war. After the organ- ization at Jackson General Forrest conducted his famous march through the Federal lines with five thousand unarmed men. As he took his men to northern Mississippi, which was the scene of his exploits for the remainder of the war, that locality was the scene of Mr. Gates's service thereafter during the conflict, being in command of a detachment of scouts. After the battle of Jack's Creek, Col. D. M. Williams submitted recommendations that for conspicuous gallantry on the field, Lieutenant Gates receive promotion to higher rank. This was so near the close of the war, however, that the promised promotion had not time to materialize. His war record was none the less an honorable and honored one, for his specific acts of bravery have been well known and frequently mentioned. One of these was undertaken on the need of General Forrest for more pistols than his army required; Lieutenant Gates made his way to Ok- olona, Mississippi, and escorted six hundred pistols back to the army. He remained with General Forrest until the surrender, being one of those who shared that melancholy experience with their leader on the field. Since those years Robert Gates has, by the general consent of all who know him, been everywhere spoken of as Colonel Gates; and the title, thus informally bestowed, has never been given to one who better deserved its complimentary significance.
The war being over, the first enterprise to which General Gates turned his attention was the very important work of a railroad contractor. The many railroads that had been destroyed during the war were re- built as rapidly as possible and Colonel Gates did much toward supply- ing the demand for ties, wood and cross timbers. This work he con- tinued for about three years and, as the need of it lessened, he entered other lines of activity.
Being a man of decided convictions on many public matters of im- portance during the reconstruction period, Colonel Gates found the press a congenial outlet for his endeavors. He had, furthermore, a per- sonal interest in The Whig-one of the oldest newspapers in the South, and long edited by his uncle, W. W. Gates; the latter was during his activity the best-known newspaper man in the South and his political career was a noted one. The Colonel remained with The Whig for some time, passing from its offices to a newspaper establishment of his own; for, in conjunction with the Honorable B. A. Enslow, he founded the Jackson Sun, a combination of The Whig and The Tribune. For ten years Colonel Gates continued to be a proprietor and editor of the Sun. Those ten years were the most strenuous in the history of southern poli- tics and Colonel Gates' influence in this capacity proved to be decidedly salutary. He was one of those who finally brought about the Fifty and Three Compromise, of Gov. W. B. Bates' administration.
Another important phase of progress present required Colonel Gates'
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assistance. In order to engage in it he resigned service with the news- paper above mentioned. This new work was that of right-of-way and subscription agent for the Ohio Valley Railway Company, in Tennessee and Kentucky. He later became right-of-way and subscription agent for the Tennessee Midland. This road-which has since become part of the Louisville & Nashville system-was given remarkable impetus through the colonel's efforts. He made many railway speeches and se- cured a large subscription list for his company.
The business ability of Colonel Gates made him a very desirable secretary and manager for the Commercial Club at Memphis. This office he accepted and held for about five years. During that time he had an exceedingly active existence, successfully locating in the city of Memphis many important new enterprises. He was eventually in- duced to take up a broader field of promotive work, and in order to do so, he resigned his office with the Memphis commercial organization.
It was at this time that movements were on foot for the Tennessee Centennial. Colonel Gates was made one of the officials of the first or- ganization and was in charge of the preliminary field work. When the exposition opened, he was again prominent as the head of the Shelby county and Memphis building.
At the close of the Centennial, a new responsibility came to the colo- nel, who had now established an unusual reputation for success as a promoter of public enterprises. The Louisville & Nashville Railway sought his services as a special industrial and immigration agent. In this connection his wide acquaintance throughout the state led to his service in connection with the railroad legislation of Tennessee, during the legislative sessions. He has at times been special representative in Washington, while Congress was in session, for railroads of Tennessee. For sixteen years he has been thus occupied; and although this period has been one of great upheavals, injuriously affecting many railroads, no adverse legislation has been passed in Tennessee against roads of the state. This immunity has been attributed largely to the efforts of Colo- nel Gates.
In combination with these definite employments above named, the colonel has done much writing and public speaking along lines relating to industrial and agricultural movements in Tennessee. Numerous ar- ticles from his pen have been published by the Tennessee department of state and its department of agriculture; many others have appeared in the newspapers of the state. When in the early 'eighties he was particu- larly interested in immigration to Tennessee, Colonel Gates delivered a number of addresses to that end, in various parts of Iowa and Illinois. He organized two excursions of prospective immigrants from the north- west; one train of these visitors went through western Tennessee and the other through middle Tennessee, the residents of both sections enter- taining them as guests. This was followed by a series of agricultural and
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industrial conventions, attended by persons from Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, and held in Jackson, Tennessee. All of these were conducted by Colonel Gates, who gave numerous addresses on im- proved methods of farming, on conditions of labor and on immigration. He has always been deeply interested in agriculture and during his pe- riod of editorship he had devoted much space and attention to diversified farming, as a result of which the present system of small fruit and truck farming in the central counties of West Tennessee was given the needed impetus. The good results of all this activity for the general good of the state and its people is constantly noted in many ways by the people of this region. He is, furthermore, one of the founders of the Farmers' In- stitute of Tennessee; these associations meet annually at Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson and during these annual meetings for fourteen years, Colonel Gates has been one of the program of speakers.
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