Joseph McMinn

Early life McMinn was born in West Marlborough Township, Pennsylvania, and was one of ten children. He obtained only a limited rural education, and even in his later years would be described as a "rustic frontiersman." and McMinn represented Hawkins County in the territorial legislature from 1794 to 1796.

Following the Panic of 1819, McMinn called a joint session of the state legislature in June 1820, which voted to establish a state bank that would provide low-interest loans. This agitated many of McMinn's fellow East Tennesseans, who had for years been complaining about lack of state appropriations for internal improvements, namely navigational improvements on the upper Tennessee River. The legislature used state-owned lands from the Hiwassee Purchase to provide financial backing for the new bank. Gaines was an older brother of Edmund Pendleton Gaines and George Strother Gaines. This marriage ended in a controversial separation and a failed attempt at divorce in 1821.