John Lewallen
John Columbus Lewallen (1812-1896) was Scott County’s first sheriff. He was elected in 1850, in the county’s first general election. Scott County was formed from portions of Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Fentress counties in 1849 by act of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Lewallen family (sometimes spelled Llewellyn) moved to what is now southern Scott County, settling in the Glenmary area, from Virginia at some point in the early 1800s. John Lewallen’s father, Anderson Grant Lewallen, is buried at the old Lewallen Cemetery in Glenmary. He died in 1829. It is possible that Anderson Lewallen’s father moved to present-day Scott County with his son.
The Lewallen family were Welch, and their ancestors had quite a storied history in Wales.
Anderson Lewallen married Lucy Rise in Prince Edward, Va. on June 8, 1784, before the move to Tennessee. They had at least eight children (and perhaps as many as 16), of which John Lewallen was the youngest. The others were, in order: Wiley Lewallen, Thomas Lewallen, Alexander Lewallen, Andrew Leutian Lewallen, Mary Polly Lewallen Robbins, Joel Lewallen, and William L. Lewallen. Most of the children of Anderson and Lucy Lewallen were likely born in Virginia or North Carolina. John Lewallen may have been born in Tennessee.
John Lewallen married twice: first to Delilah Reed (1815-1865) in 1833, and then to her sister Melinda Emely Reed (1834-1907) in 1865. The Reed sisters were the daughters of Isaac Reed and Phariba Hatfield. Isaac Reed was on the committee that chose Huntsville at Scott County’s seat of government in 1850, and he was also elected Scott County’s first trustee in the same March 1850 election that saw his son-in-law elected sheriff. Both of the Reed sisters’ grandfathers — John Reed and Joseph Hatfield — were Revolutionary War veterans who moved to present-day Scott County after the war.
John and Delilah Reed had 10 children: Isaac James Lewallen, Anderson S. Lewallen, Elizabeth Lewallen McDonald, Campbell County Lewallen, Andrew Lewallen, Nancy Lewallen Burke, Columbus Scott Lewallen, Louisa Lewallen, Lucinda Lewallen and Harry Lewallen. John and Melinda Reed had two children: Tennessee Lewallen Ewing and Texas Lewallen.
John Lewallen was elected sheriff in 1850. He was re-elected in 1852, 1854 and 1856.
At some point after 1868, John and Melinda Lewallen moved from Scott County to Texas. Both are buried at Bluff Creek Cemetery in Bradshaw, Tex., near Abilene.
John Lewallen was succeeded as Scott County Sheriff by Bailey Buttram, who married Isaac Reed’s sister, Rebecca Rachel Reed.
Anderson Lewallen, John’s son, was arrested in Scott County in 1873 and charged with the murder of Dan Pennington. However, he was acquitted at trial.
See Also: Sheriffs of Scott County
