Randolph Lawler Mott was born on August 9, 1799 in Fauquier County, Virginia. In his youth, he apprenticed as a tailor in North Carolina and was acquainted with Andrew Johnson, the future president, who was similarly employed. Mott moved to Augusta, Georgia in 1819, then to Milledgeville where he met and married Mary Jeter in 1830 . Mary's sister Julia married John L. Mustain the next year. The two brothers-in-law formed a business partnership that lasted many decades.

The Motts and the Mustains moved to Macon where the partners ran the Hotel Washington. Mustain also owned the Macon Race Course. Both were sold and the partners went into the stagecoach business. Mott moved to Columbus in 1843 and took over all the business operations when Mustain was elected to the state legislature in 1845. Mott became involved in the railroad business first as a stockholder and then as a director of the Muscogee Railroad Company. Mott also began buying real estate in and around Columbus at this time.

Mott's business interests were many and varied. He purchased shares in the Winter's Palace Mills in 1857 and owned over 80% of it, becoming its president in 1859. He owned a large plantation with slaves in Russell County, Alabama. The 1860 census listed him as a planter.

Although a slave owner, he was also a Unionist when the civil war broke out. In April 1865, he welcomed Gen James H. Wilson into his home after Columbus was captured.

After the Civil War, Mott continued in business and civic affairs, becoming mayor pro tem of Columbus and a trustee of the Freedman's Bureau. He also was a trustee of the insane asylum in Milledgeville. Because of this he was in Atlanta in July of 1881 for a trustee meeting where he fell in front of a train at the station and was killed. He is buried in Linwood Cemetery.