Joseph Wellington Byrns (1869 - 1936) was the father of Joseph Wellington Byrns, Jr. and a Representative from Tennessee; born near Cedar Hill, Robertson County, TN, July 20, 1869.
- Attended the common schools
- Was graduated from Nashville High School in 1887 and from the law department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, in 1890
- Was admitted to the bar in 1890 and commenced the practice of law in Nashville
- Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, 1895-1901
- Member of the Tennessee State Senate in 1901-1903
- Unsuccessful candidate for district attorney general of Davidson County in 1902
- Elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-first and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1909, until his death; chairman, Committee on Appropriations (Seventy-second Congress)
- Majority leader (Seventy-third Congress), Speaker of the House of Representatives (Seventy-fourth Congress)
- Chairman of the Democratic National Congressional Campaign Committee 1928-1930
- Was a nominee for reelection to the Seventy-fifth Congress at the time of his death
- Died in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 1936; funeral services were held in the Hall of the House of Representatives
- Buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tenn.