HON. N. T. TUCKER, At Erwin, in Unicoi
county, a man who has worthily won the position of leading citizen is
the president of the Bank of Erwin and who for many years has been
closely identified with the business and civic life of that locality.
Mr. Tucker is easily one of the best known bankers of Tennessee and
has managed an instituion whose record is a credit to Unicoi
county.
The Bank of Erwin was organized in the year 1910 with a
capital stock of $16,000. On January 1, 1913, the capital stock was
increased to $25,000. Since its organization it has enjoyed a very
profitable business, having paid regular semi-annual dividends and
accumulated a surplus of $1,500. N. T. Tucker is president, L. H.
Phetteplace is vice president, J. W. Allison is cashier and J. O.
Fleming assistant cashier. Since the close of the year 1912 the deposits
of this institution have increased more than 71 per cent. The bank is
housed in a modern two-story brick structure, and both the building and
the well-equipped fixtures are owned by the bank. Its banking facilities
are unsurpassed.
N. T. Tucker, who is a member of a prominent
family of east Tennessee, was one of ten children born to Joseph and
Allie C. (McGimsey) Tucker. The mother is now living at the home of her
son, N. T. Tucker, at the age of ninety-one years. The family is of
Scotch-Irish descent and has been identified with Unicoi county from the
early days. In Unicoi county N. T. Tucker was born on March 27, 1861.
His early vocations, after he had obtained his education, were as a
farmer and later in the lumber and building industry, to which lines he
gave his energies for a number of years. He was the prime factor in
organizing the Bank of Erwin in 1910, and held the office of president
by election in May of that year.
Mr. Tucker has also occupied a
useful place in civic affairs, having served his county as chairman of
the county court, and since 1903 has been clerk and master of the
chancery court of Unicoi county. He served Erwin as mayor for four
terms, and the last term went into the office without any opposition, so
well satisfied were the citizens with his administration. He has also
held the office of justice of the peace. Mr. Tucker in politics is a
Republican and has been and is still a member of the congressional
committee of his party in this section of the state. At the present time
he is president of the Commercial Club of Erwin.
Mr. Tucker was
married December 8, 1889, at Jonesboro to Miss Nora S. O'Brien, a
daughter of David P. O'Brien. They are the parents of eight children, of
the following names: Allie, Maud, Dana, Dewitt, Nellie Joe, Kathleen,
Ollie and Adaline, and all the family worship in the Presbyterian
church. (Source: A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, by Will T.
Hale, 1913 - Transcribed by C. Anthony)
PHILIP
BAYARD SMITH. A young attorney who has successfully combined the
practice of law with activities in the commercial field, Mr. Smith has
established himself securely in the community of Erwin, where his
influence counts as that of a progressive leader. Mr. Smith possesses
youth, ambition and engergy, together with a broad sense of
responsibility of the individual to the community, and has a large sense
of responsibility of the individual to the community, and has
a large career of usefullness before him.
Philip Bayard
Smith is a Virginian by birth, born in Keswick, in Albemarle county, on
October 3, 1876, one of nine children born to Andrew J. and Ellen O.
(Lewis) Smith. His father was a substantial farmer and sent his son to
the public schools of Fauquier county, Virginia, after which he studied
in the Hodge Academy and the Richmond College. He was graduated from
Richmond College and also from the Dunsmore Business College at
Staunton, Virginia. From the latter he received the degree of Master of
Accounts in June ,1899. He followed farming as his early vocation, and
later entered the important commercial field of expert accountancy.
During this time his ambition was fixed upon law, and it was to prepare
himself for that profession that he entered Richmond College, where he
was graduated LL. B. in June, 1905. For a number of years Mr. Smith has
been identified with the real estate and insurance business and at the
same time conducts a good private practice as a lawyer. He was admitted
to the Virginia bar in 1905. Mr. Smith is manager at Erwin for L. M.
Neas & Company, real estate, loans and insurance.
Mr. Smith has served as chairman of the independent Democratic caucus in Unicoi county, in May, 1910. He has his church membership in the Presbyterian denomination. (Source: A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, by Will T. Hale, 1913 - Transcribed by C. Anthony)
