James W. Tipton, a leading farmer and stock trader, of Lake County, is the son of Rev. Joshua and Rebecca A. (Rider) Tipton. The father was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, in 1817, and the mother in the same county in 1819. They married and lived in Wilson County until 1843, when they moved to Carroll County, and in 1845 to what is now Lake County, where they remained until they died. They had ten children, six sons and four daughters. Both belonged to the Methodist Church. While living in Obion County, he was deputy sheriff, and when Lake County was organized, he was the first sheriff of the county. He was a farmer but was for a while also a merchant of Tiptonville, the first post office at that place being kept in his store; he also owned a wood yard, and was a local preacher for twenty five years.
Our subject, J. W. Tipton, was born May 7, 1847, and when only sixteen years of age, went into the army. When seventeen, he took charge of his father’s farm of 200 acres. August 5, 1869, he married Miss Tennessee A. Snow; born April 9, 1847, in James County, Tennessee He also cast his first vote on the 5th of August. They had seven sons and one daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Tipton are both Methodists. He is a democrat. He has always been a farmer, and for twelve years past has run a grist mill, and cotton gin; he owns 400 acres of good land; and has been a resident of the county for thirty nine years, being a good farmer, an honest man and a useful citizens. His mother died in 1870, and his father afterward married Miss M. J. Smith, by whom he had one child. He died in 1877.