Descendants of James Blount

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1. JAMES¹ BLOUNT^1,2,3 was born Abt. 1620 in England, and died 1686 in Chowan Precinct, Albermarle County, North Carolina. He married (1) UNKNOWN⁴ Abt. 1646 in England. He married (2) ANNA WILLIX RASCOE⁵ Aft. 1670.

Notes for JAMES BLOUNT:

The question of James Blount's parentage has been a source of great confusion, due primarily to a "genealogy" prepared for one Frederick Speight Blount in 1872. This bogus study purports to connect Capt. James Blount the immigrant with Sir Walter Blount who was made a baronet during the reign of King Charles I in 1642. The study says that three of Sir Walter's sons "emigrated to Virginia and North Carolina." Attached to the report was an "American Genealogy," copied from a Memorandum of the Blount Family made by John Bonner Blount, A.D. 1823. The first paragraph of the "American Genealogy" reads as follows:

"James Blount, who by tradition was a Captain in the King of England's Life Guards, and a younger son of Sir Walter Blount, Member of Parliament, and created a Baronet by Charles I., emigrated to Virginia, (which then extended as far south as Albemarle Sound), with many other persons. There were several persons of the name of Blount who, either personally or by reference to Captain John Smith's History of Virginia, will more fully apear. There is no doubt, however, that a certain James Blount, who brought over with him a copperplate of the armorial bearings of his family, now in my posession, which, by comparing with the heraldry of England, quarters the arms of the former or present Duke of Devonshire, particularly as to their representation of clouds; on or about 1669, (the particular day will appear by reference to records) entered a tract of land on Albemarle Sound, a greater part of which is now, at the present day, in possession of one of his immediate descendants, Clement H. Blount."

The problem is that Sir Walter Blount, Baronet, did not have a son named James Blount. See Alexander Croke, The Genealogical History of the Croke Family, Originally Named Le Blount, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1823), II, 145-146.

However, the myth that Capt. James Blount was a son of Sir Walter Blount has continued in numerous publications. In addition, it has been asserted that Thomas Blount, who died in 1706 was the brother and not the son of Capt. James Blount. See Marcus T. Wright, Some Accounts of the Life and Service of William Blount (1740-1800) (1884); John H. Wheeler, Reminiscences of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians (Columbus, OH, 1884), lvii-lix, 130; Zella Armstrong, comp., Notable Southern Families (Chattanooga, TN, 1918) I, 32-37; Alice Barnwell Keith, ed., The John Gray Blount Papers, Volume One 1764-1789 (Raleigh, NC, 1952), xiv, note 4; Wiliam H. Masterson, William Blount (New York, 1954), 1-3. Hathaway's North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register and Worth S. Ray's Index and Digest to Hathaway's North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register (Austin, TX, 1945), 19-20, confuse the matter even further. As late as 1974, one Sherman Fields prepared a chart on the Blount family, a copy of which is at the North Carolina State Library. The familiar errors that James was a son of Sir Walter and that Thomas was a brother of James appear on the chart.

Standing against all of this is the work of the late Helen M. Blount Prescott, who spent many years from the 1890s until the 1940s, working on the Blount family history. Miss Prescott's famous Blount and Blunt Chart (1902, 1930) shows that Capt. James Blount, the immigrant, was the son of James and -------- (Clare) Blount. It also shows that Thomas Blount, who died in 1706, was the son of Capt. James Blount. Prescott's papers are housed at the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The key to establishing Capt. James's parentage and background is the will of Charles Blount, uncle of Capt. James. Charles Blount's will, dated Dec. 19, 1655, includes the following bequest: "I give and bequeathe unto my cozen James Blount one of the Sonnes of my late brother James Blount Esquire deceased the summe of fiftie pounds in case he be liveinge or such returned from beyond the seas where now he is to demand the same." This will was filed in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Folio 172, and is indexed in Vol. 54, Wills 1653-56, PCC, Public Record Office, London. Genealogist Marilu Burch Smallwood accepted the Prescott version of Capt. James' lineage in her book Related Royal Families (Gainesville, FL, 1966), 360. One interesting recent source is C. Sylvester Green's Blounts of Pitt County, NorthCarolina (Greenville, NC, 1978). He accepts the Prescott Chart but tries to have it both ways regarding Thomas, son of James. In establishing the background of the Pitt County Blounts, Green sometimes says that they were descendants of Thomas, brother of James and at other times, descendants of Thomas, son of James. See pp. 14, 25, 33, 38, 42, 47. Virginia (Watkins) Westergard and Kyle S. VanLandingham in their book, Parker and Blount in Florida (Okeechobee, FL, 1983), accept the Prescott version.

Regarding the controversy over the different Thomas Blounts, Mattie Erma E. Parker, in her biographical sketch of Thomas Blount in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 1, p. 82, summed it up very well:

"Most writers on the Blount family have confused three individuals bearing the name Thomas Blount. The three are (1) the subject of this sketch, (2) his son Thomas, and (3) a putative uncle of the subject of this sketch, said to have settled in North Carolina in the 1670s, but of whom this writer finds no trace in North Carolina records."

The James Blount Coat of Arms is found in Wheeler's Reminiscences, lvii:

"His Coat of arms engraved on a copper plate, which he brought with him, was in the possession of his descendants until about the year 1840, when it was destroyed by its possessor, the late James B. Shepard of Raleigh. A cut of it is given above, taken from an impression of the original plate."

The coat of arms is impaled with the arms of the Clare family, that of his mother. The Clare arms include three chevrons on a shield. The coat of arms is reportedly shown on the seals attached to the wills of John Blount, son of James; and John's son, John Blount, Jr. According to the Frances B. Claypoole Notes, the "[s]eals used by John Blount I and John Blount II in signing their wills distinctly show a meteor and not a sun." See Robert F. Pfafman, Ancestry and Progeny of Capt. James Blount, Immigrant (1983).

The Rt. Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina, was very interested in the Blount genealogy. He sent a copy of the James Blount Coat of Arms to one Charles Dexter Allen of Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Allen replied to Bishop Cheshire on February 26, 1906, and stated that the "arms on this plate are quartered with another coat: but no tinctures are shown." Allen remarked that book plate was of the Chippendale design, after 1750 and represented the Chippendale design of a "late period." This indicates that the copy of the arms shown in Wheeler was modified somewhat from the original, since James Blount died in 1686. See Joseph B. Cheshire Papers, 1724-1932, Correspondence 1905-October 1906, PC 183.45 NCA, North Carolina State Archives.

The following biographical sketch of James Blount is by Mattie Erma E. Parker.

See William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (Chapel Hill, NC, 1979), I, 178-179.

"Blount (Blunt), James (d. spring or summer 1686), colonial official, and leader in Culpeper's Rebellion, moved to the Albemarle colony from Isle of Wight County, Va., between 1660, when the family was still in Virginia, and 1669, when Blount was a member of the Albemarle council. Presumably, the title captain, applied to him by his contemporaries, indicates his rank in either the Virginia or the Albemarle militia, or both.

"By 21 Apr. 1669, Blount was a council member in the Albemarle colony. He was also on the council in 1672, 1679, 1681, 1684, and perhaps also in years not indicated in surviving records. In 1677, and apparently in earlier years, he was one of the burgesses representing Chowan Precinct and sat on the council by vote of the assembly, which then chose some of the council members.

"Although Blount participated in the government over which the controversial Thomas Miller presided in the summer and fall of 1677, he was one of the leaders in the overthrow of Miller in December of that year. Not only did he help lead the upheaval, subsequently called Culpeper's Rebellion, but he became a member of the rebel parliament and the rebel council that governed the colony until 1679, when the proprietors reestablished government under their own authority.

"After the restoration of de jure government, Blount served on the council at least in the years 1679, 1681, and 1684. He was a justice of the county court of Albemarle in 1682 and 1683.

"Blount lived in Chowan Precinct, where he owned 300 acres of land in the 1670s. His holding was enlarged by a grant of 660 acres in 1684 [Mulberry Hill].

"Blount was married twice. His first wife, whose name is not known, was the mother of at least five of his children: James, Thomas, John, Ann and Elizabeth. Apparently, James and Thomas, if not the other children, were born before their parents moved to Albemarle. They proved their headrights and were granted land in 1680, by which time both were married. Blount's first wife died between 27 Sept. 1670, when she was a witness in court, and 13 June 1683, by which time Blount's second marriage had taken place. The second wife was Anna Riscoe, widow of Robert Riscoe of Albemarle and daughter of Belshassar Willix of Exeter, N.H. She and Blount probably were married shortly before 13 June 1683, when Blount obtained administration of Riscoe's estate 'in right of his wife.' If children were born of the second marriage, they apparently died in infancy.

"Blount died between 10 Mar. 1686, when he made a codicil to his will, and 17 July, when the will was proved. By that time his two daughters were married and each had at least one child. They were referred to in the will as Elizabeth Hawkins, who had a son named John, and Ann Slocum, who had a daughter named Ann.

"Blount's own son, John was still a minor when his father died. John's brother, Thomas became his guardian, but the guardianship lasted less than a decade, as John was married in 1695 to Elizabeth Davis, daughter of John and Mary Davis of Henrico County, Va. Thomas himself was married to his second wife, Mary Scott, about the time of his father's death, in the spring of 1686. James, Jr., gave his wife's name as Elizabeth in listing his headrights and also in his will.

"Blount's widow, Anna, whom he called in his will, married Seth Sothel, then governor of the colony and one of the proprietors of Carolina. After Sothel's death, she married John Lear, a prominent Virginian."

The following excerpt is from Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Immigrants 1607-1660 (Baltimore, MD, 1987), 295-296:

"13 September. [1655] The following bound to James Blunt, planter, to serve in Virginia: Thomas Taylor of Lugwardine, Heref., labourer, for 6 years; Rebecca Davis of Grosmont, Monmouth, spinster, for 3 years; and Anne Morgan of Rowlstone, Heref, spinster, for 3 years. Mary Jones of Crickhowell, Monmouth spinster, and Markes Thomas of Crickhowell bound to Joseph Curtis of Bristol, shipwright, to serve 3 years in Virginia. (BRO)."

The following entry is found in North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register 3 (January 1903), 146:

"Henry White aged about fifty seven years, upon oath declared that he knew Samuel Davis deceased, that he lived in the Pascotank in this Government, and that he knew the said Samuel Davis when he lived in Isle of Wight when he was an apprentice to his father, Henry White, of the Isle of Wight county afsd. Cooper, and that after he was out of his time he married one Ann, a servant to Captn. James Blount, and afterwards about the year 1660, he, the sd Samuel and Ann, his wife removed themselves into this government, where the deponent knew them to live several years & had several children and that Samuel Davis Junior is the eldest son &c."

Capt. James Blount was one of the leaders of Culpeper's Rebellion in 1677.

"The chief cause of unrest in the decade of the 1670s was the attempt of the English Parliament to regulate the tobacco trade and to curb smuggling by passage of series of navigation acts. The Act of 1660 stated that certain enumerated articles, including tobacco, could be traded only to England. The New Englanders, engaged in the intercolonial coastal trade, tried to circumvent the requirements of the law by landing tobacco in another colony before selling it abroad. To stop such illegal trade, Parliament passed the Plantation Duty Act of 1673, which required a tobacco duty of one penny per pound to be paid at the port of purchase. Because they were dependent on the New England mariners for the marketing of their tobacco, the Albemarle planters were threatened economically by the new regulations and duty." See Lindley S. Butler, North Carolina Genesis: Seventeenth-Century Albemarle County (Hertford, NC, 1989), 12.

In the fall of 1679, the "popular faction" which included James Blount took control of the colony. In the "Representation to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina Concerning the Rebellion in that Country, to be made use of in Further Examinations," the role of James Blount is mentioned:

"Capt: James Blount, although one of the Great Councill or Assistant to the Deputies is one of the chief persons amongst the Insurrectors, and although I wrote to him, the speaker and rest of the Burgesses of Chowan Precinct, yet when the Sheriffe of Chief Martiall came with my letter and endeavoured to raise Posse Comitatis for keeping the peace and securing of that your Lordships Country, he the said Blount with one Captain John Vernham took the Martiall and his men Prisoners and raised forces against the Government." See William L. Saunders, ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina (Raleigh, NC, 1886), I, 259.

"During the height of Culpeper's Rebellion in December 1677, the most irregular judicial proceeding of the entire period occurred when the arrested acting governor Thomas Miller and other government officials were brought before a rebel assembly at George Durant's house. The assembly, led by speaker Thomas Cullen, who had formerly been outlawed for illegal Indian trade, selected 'ye supream Court' of chief justice Richard Foster and associates John Jenkins, William Crawford, James Blount, Patrick White, and Valentine Bird, all of whom where influential planters and merchants. Free-flowing rum contributed to the unraveling of the proceedings. Although George Durant, serving as attorney general, and John Culpeper were advising the grand jury, their indictment was returned endorsed as a 'Bill of Error' rather than Billa Vera (true bill). According to Miller, the 'stark drunk' sheriff was unable to impanel a petit jury to proceed against him, but he remained in fear for his life until a proclamation from Governor Eastchurch condemning the rebellion arrived from Virginia and broke up the proceeding." See North Carolina Genesis, 23.

"Culpeper's Rebellion, the most significant of the upheavals in Albemarle County, was certainly an outgrowth of the internal struggle for power triggered by the effect of the tobacco duty of 1673. Unrest festered in the isolated frontier colony, exacerbated by proprietary neglect, uncertain land policy, and the ambiguity of the proprietary relationship....The Carolina rebellion was not surprising, given the power struggle within the feeble proprietary government, for which the Lords Proprietors must bear full responsibility. The uprising had indeed tested the proprietors, who were found wanting. The Albemarle planters had learned from the outset to rely on their own resources, and after years of contention, the popular faction had earned the right to govern the colony. The success of the government established by this faction was best described by the proprietors themselves, when in 1680 they admitted that all was 'quyet,' with the customs fees being 'quyeyly paid by the People.' " See North Carolina Genesis, 15.

The original will of James Blount is in the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina. It is laminated and in very good condition. In May 1999, Kyle S. VanLandingham examined the will and made a photocopy. The following transcription is from the original:

"In the Name of God Amen I James Blount of Chowan Precinct In the County of Albemarle In the Province of Carolina Esq. & well knowing the uncertainty of this Life doe make Ordain & Appoint this to bee my Last will and Testament hereby Revoeking & adnulling all former Wills by me Made & this Only to be taken & reputed as my Last will.

"Imp. I Bequeath my Soule to God who gave it & my body to the Earth to be Decently Enterred & as for that Worldly Estate which it hath pleased God to bestow upon me in this life my Just debts funeral Expenses & Legatyes being first paid I give and bequeath as followeth---

"Item. I give unto my Sonn James Blount one Shilling in Country Comodities to be paid him by my Executrix hereafter named within one year after my Decease.

"Item. I give unto my Sonn Thomas Blount & to my two Daughters Ann Slocumb & Elizabeth Hawkins Each of them twelve pence apiece in Country Comodities to be paid them within one year after my Decease.

"Item. I give & bequeath unto my Grand Children James Sarah Blount the children of my Sonn Thomas Blount & to Ann Slocomb the child of my Daughter Ann Slocomb & to John Hawkins ye Son of my Daughter Elizabeth Hawkins Each of them a Cow & a Calfe to be paid to their severall parents within three years after my Decease in some sort of Stock to runn for ye use and behoofe of the Said children till they Severally Come of age, or Marriage Capacitated to receive the Same.

"Item. I give & bequeath all ye remainder part of my Estate Reall & personall whether it Consist in Lands, houses, Negroes, Servants, Stock, household goods, or any other kind of specie whatsoever, unto my Loving wife Ann Blount for her to have hold occupy & Enjoy During her naturall Liffe without Loss or Controule & at her death to dispose of the Same to ye Value of Sixty pounds in Country Comodities to Whoever she Shall think fitt, And after her my said Wifes Decease, I give ye whole remainder of my Estate to my Son John Blount & his heirs forever; & I do hereby appointe & ordaine yt my said Sonn John Shall be Decently maintained out of the Estate during his minority. and in Case my said Wife Ann should Live till after my Said Sonn John Should come of Age then if he should happen to marry or to goe to Live in some other place from said Wife; then She to pay him thirty or forty pounds (which She pleaseth) in Country Comoditites.

Turns Over

James Blount

"Lastly I appoint my Loving Wife, Ann Blounte my whole & Sole Executrix of this my last will & testament desiring her to be careful in every article & Clause thereof & for Confirmation of ye Same I have hereunto set my hand & Seale this Ninth day of July in the year of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty and five. March ye 10th 1685[/6].

"Before signing sealing or Publication I doe hereby Appoint that in Case my Son John Shuld Dy without heirs male then I give & bequeath all my lands & houses to ye heirs Male of my sonn Thomas Blount & so successively doe Entaile the same on their heirs male of my said Thomas forEver: but in case the heirs male of my Said son John & Thomas should both faile then I Entaile the Same on the heirs Generall of my Sonn John first then of my Son Thomas. and if both should faile then of the heirs of my Daughter Ann Slocumb and Elizabeth Hawkins.

James Blount (Seal)

Signed, Sealed & Published
as his last will and testament
in presence of

          her
Jane    X    Miller
        mark

John Hall
William Dobson
John Wettinhall

This will proved by John Hall and Jane Miller on the seventh day of July 1686 and by William Dobson on the 11th day of July 1686 who uppon their oaths (before me) duely administered did attest that they see the testator above named James Blount signe & seale & heard him declare the above written to be his last will and testament.

Seth Sothell

Recorded J? N. Chevin, Clk --- Chow."

Grimes' NorthCarolina Wills, 54, states that the will was recorded in Will Book 1, p. 120, Office of Secretary of State.

Children of JAMES BLOUNT and UNKNOWN are:

2. JAMES² BLOUNT (JAMES¹)^10,11 was born Abt. 1648 in England, and died 1717 in Chowan Precinct, Albemarle Co., North Carolina. He married ELIZABETH¹² Abt. 1674.

Children of JAMES BLOUNT and ELIZABETH are:

3. THOMAS² BLOUNT (JAMES¹)^14,15,16 was born Abt. 1650, and died Bef. March 28, 1706 in Cabin Ridge Plantation, Albermarle County, North Carolina. He married (1) UNKNOWN Abt. 1670 in Virginia. He married (2) MARY PERRY^17,18 May 13, 1686 in Perquimans Precinct, Albermarle Co., N. C.¹⁹, daughter of JEREMIAH PERRY.

Notes for THOMAS BLOUNT:

Thomas Blount, son of James Blount and his unknown first wife, was born about 1650 in England.

Thomas first appears in North Carolina records in 1680 as follows:

"Albemarl. These are in the name of his Excel ye. Palat. & rest of the true and absolute Lords proprietor. to will & require you to Survey & lay out for Tho. Blount of this county five hundred acres of land ...English measure wch. is due to him for the transportacon of ten psons into this County whose names are under written and make returne of this warrant to ye. Secretary office wth. ye. Suvey fail not as you will answer the Contrary Given under our hands and the Seal of the County this 29th. day of March 1680. Jno Jenkins, Wm. Craford, Antho. Slocu_, Rbt. Holden. __ye _ 1. Survr or his deputy

_ames Blount, Visula Rodgers, James Blount jur., (torn)__iz his wife, Jno Blount, Jno. Currier, Edw. Rowe his (torn) ___e Nightingale & two Children not baptized."

See Weynette Parks Haun, Old Albemarle County North Carolina Book of Land Warrants and Surveys 1681-1706 (Durham, NC, 1984), 12.

On the same page is a warrant to lay out 100 acres for "James Blount Jur." dated March 29, 1680 for transporting two persons, Edw. Roe, Junr. & Jno. Chantrey. James assigned these rights to Thomas Blount on April 4, 1694.

Appearing with these 1680 warrants were the following records of rights proven and certificates issued:

"Albemarl. SS: Att a Pal. Court holden at ye. house of Jno. Harris ye. 20th. of 7br. 1692 Tho. Blount proved Seven rights viz: Tho. Blount, Christian Blount, Joshua Hepworth, Eliabeth Green & three Negros. Test: wm. Glovr: Clk, Counsell.

"These are to certify that Mr. Tho. Blount did at a Court holden for the Precinct of Chowan ye. 12th. day of ffebr. 1693 prove three rights Humphrey Leg & two Negroes. as certifyed. P: Hendrson Walker Clk.

"These are to certify that James Cooper did at a Court holden for the precinct of Chowan ye. 12th. dayof ffebr. 1693 prove ffour rights viz: himselfe, Christian Elizabeth & Jane Cooper as certufted, P: Hendrson Walker Clk. I ye. Subscriber doe hereby assigne unto Mr. Tho. Blount ye. four above written rights Witness my hand this 2d. of April Ano Dm 1694. Test: Henderson Walker, W. Glover."

On the previous page:

"Chowan pcinct. Ss: These may certify yt. at a Court holden for ye. Precinct __of Chowan ye. first Munday in Aprill at ye. house of Cap. Henderson Walk__ Ano. Dm. 1694. Psent. Thomas Blount Esqr. psident, Jno Porter Junr., Tho. Luten, James Long, Cotton Robison, Justices.

These Rights following was Proved and Certificates ordered by this Court, viz:...

"James Blount three Rights viz: James Blount, Jno. Blount, Elizabeth Blount_, One put into his Wart. ye. other two assigned to Mr. Thomas Blount....

"Tho. Green his own right proved And assigned to Mr. Tho. Bloun__(torn)"

The following is from Mattie Erma E. Parker's biographical sketch of Thomas Blount in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by Wm. S. Powell, Volume I (Chapel Hill, NC, 1979), 181-182:

"Blount (Blunt), Thomas (d. ca. March 1706), colonial official, was the son of Captain James Blount and his first wife, who name is not known. The elder Blounts moved to Albemarle from Isle of Wight County, Va., between 1660 and 1669. Apparently Thomas and a brother, James, Jr., remained in Virginia for a time or returned there after their family's removal to Albemarle. Both Thomas and James, Jr., proved their own headrights and were granted land in Albemarle in 1680.

"Like his father, Thomas Blount was called captain by his contemporaries, which presumably indicated rank in the militia of either Virginia or North Carolina, or both. Also, like his father, he held civil office, including a seat on the council, in North Carolina. Blount's first known office was justice of Chowan Precinct court, of which he was the presiding judge in 1694. The almost total loss of the seventeeenth-century records of that court renders it impossible to determine the length of his service.

"In 1696, Blount was a member of the North Carolina council and was ex officio justice of the general court, then held by the council. From 1698 through 1701 he was justice of the general court by commission from the council but no longer a council member. In about 1696 and 1703 he was a member of the assembly, but the exact dates of his legislative service are not known. In 1699 he was member of a commission to investigate a charge of murder brought against a group of Indians, which was found to be false."

Further details of the Indian matter can be found in William L. Saunders, ed., Colonial Records of North Carolina (Raleigh, NC, 1886), I, 515. First is a postcript from a letter of Virginia Governor Nicholson to North Carolina Governor Walker, dated James City, October 8, 1699:

"I am very sorry to hear that those Indians which murdered ye people and stole ye goods are like to come off without being brought to condigne punishment, and that it may be be a ill precedent to ye Indians in these parts and incourage them to do the like is ye hearty wishes of --- F.N. Francis Nicholson"

Governor Walker responded on November 18, 1699:

"Concerning ye Indians its very true that such report made to us that we generally did believe that these unhappy people were destroyed by them, and I with the advice of the Assembly sent the Hon. David Akehurst Esq. to inquire of the truth thereof and with him Capt. Thos. Blount who was a very great sharer in that loss, and was as strongly persuaded as any man that ye people in ye canoe were indeed murdered and himself and family was in as great danger as any in the Government. And upon their return, they made report to me and ye Councill that all ye Indians that could be suspected freely upon ye first summons surrendered themselves and gave so particular account of ye matter and with so many concurring circumstances that by all the inquiry that they could make they could see no cause to fix it upon any of them for ye evidences (witnesses) who at a distance seemed strong, when they came face to face with ye Indians could say nothing against them, so that they returned fully satisfied that the canoe was lost by extremity of wind and sea, which all know was very violent at that time and so continued for several days together. (signed) Henderson Walker."

There is record of an agreement reached between the Bay River Indians and the North Carolina government made by Thomas Blount and three others as well as Sothel, King of the Bear Creek Indians. According to the agreement, the Indians were obligated to turn over to the government any Indians accused of murdering the "King's Subjects." In addition, the Indians were to asist the "English in all trouble with all Indians" and to pay a tribute each year at General Court in July with "to pair of Skins as a tribute to the English Government." See "Articles of Agreement with the Bay River Indians," North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register 1 (October 1900), 598-599.

Returning to Parker's sketch:

"At some time subsequent to October 1701, the general court disqualified Blount from holding civil or military office in the colony during the remainder of his life. That action was taken because of the marriage of Blount's son James to Mary Tyler, sister of James's deceased wife, Katherine. Such a marriage, though admitttedly outside the jurisdiction of the court, was prohibited by the Anglican church. As both Blount and Nicholas Tyler, the father of the bride, were alleged to have promoted the marriage, the court barred them both from holding any office of trust in the colony. Although Blount's alleged offense was against the Anglican church, it seems not to have affected his standing in the church itself. He was on the vestry of St. Paul's Parish from the establishment of the parish, in 1701, until his death."

There is a fascinating deposition of William Hancock published under the title "Matchmaking (and Consequences?), 1701" in North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 24 (May 1998), 197:

"Ye deposition of William Hancock of Pamplico taken October 23, 1701----On ye last of April, or ye 1rst of May, Mr. Thomas Blount desir'd William Barrow & myself to perswade his son James to go to Pamplico, with an Intent to break off ye Match with he Widdow Hooper, & to marry him before he came back again if it might be, whereupon William Barrow, & my self went over to Edmund Pearses, & perswaded him to go over to his Fathers, to go along with us to Pamplico, he showed some unwillingness to comply, but we had orders to tell him from his Father ye Great Inconvenience of marrying ye Widdow Hooper with so many children, to wch he presently reply'd, yt my father would have me Marry ye Widdow Durant for ye sake of a Little Money whom I cannot fancy, who hath 5 children, whereas ye Widdow Hooper hath but four children, & loves him entirely. On ye Friday night following we lay at Lionel Readings, when his Father desir'd me to discourse him privately, & to bring him answer what his son design'd to do, & to tell himof Mr. Tylers daughter, & of Mr Derehams daughter of Pamplico with whom he might have 100lt?, his Reply at last was not willing to refuse an Answer absolutely, yt if his Father was not willing yt he should have whom he lik'd then when He came back from Palmplico (he) swim his cattle over ye creek to Edmund Pearses & Travel, for if his Father & Mother were to perswade her with all ye south shoar to speak an ill word of him he had so much confidence in her yt he believ'd she woud not, & if he did not marry her whom He Lov'd He would not Marry whilst he liv'd, on ye Sunday morning at my House after we came in, he fell into a great disorder, wch I believe was upon ye occasion of what his Father & Mother had said to him, & upon his recovery out of his fit, he smote his Breast, & sd very often Ld me merciful to my soul, & was bordering to all appearances on distraction.

                                     Witness my mark

Witnesses
      Daniel Bret
      Tho. Lepper              William Hancock
                                       his W mark"

And this document:

"North Carolina. Ss

Know all men by these prsents yt we James Blount & Capt. Thos Blounte are holden & Firmly bound to his Excellency ye palatine and Lords Proprietors in ye Sum of Seaventy four pounds Sterl money of England for wch paymt Well & truly be made we bind of ourheirs Execrs Administas [sic] or Assigns Joyntly & Severally firmly by those presents Sealed with our Seals this 30th Day of Oct: 1701---

The Condition of this obligation is Such that whereas the above bounden James Blount By an Order of the Honle President & Councill is Ordered to pay to Johannah Hooper for ye mainteineng [sic] her Child when it Shall be born at ye Rate of Six Shillings and Eight Pence per Moneth to be paid att one Intire Paymt yearly ont he tenth Day of January Every yeare (as by ye Sd Order of Councill bearing Date with these prsents may apeare if therefore the above Sd James Blounte Shall Well & truly pay unto ye aforsd Johannah Hooper the aforsd Sum yearly & Every yeare on ye 19th Day of Janry as afrosd and shall Well & truly respect [?] the Sd order of Court in Every Article and Clause by himself his heirs Executors Administration or Assignes then this prsent Obligatn to be Boyd & of Nowe Effect other wayes to Stand in full force Power and Existnce [?]

Signd Seald
and Delrd in Prsents)
James Blount

Na: Chevin
Samll Culson [Culton?] Thomas Blo[torn]

(From Colonial Court Records, Box 148, Civil & Criminal Papers, 1681-1710, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.)"

The following is from Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, ed., North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1697-1701 (Raleigh, NC, 1971), 468-469:

"Richard Plater Esqr. Attorney Generall Came here the 3d Day of the Generall Court and gives the Court here to Understand and be informed That James Blount of the County of Bath hath Unlawfully maried with Mary Daughter of Mr. Nich. Tylor haveing before [maried] with Katherine Daughter to the said Nicholas Tylor and sister to the said Mary And the said James blount and Mary being Called and upon Examination they Confess. And the Court haveing taken the premisses into theire serious Consideration Do from their hearts Detest and abhorr the action as abominble in the sight of god and prohibitted by the Lawes of the Church but are of opinion that is is not within the Jurisdiction of this Court to give finall Determination in that matter.

"And whereas upon the first notice of theire purpose to Enter into the said unlawfull mariage the Honorable president Did Direct and send Letters to all persons who he thought might be Instrumentall in the matter which Letters was sent per W. Frayly [Frayly was Thomas Blount's step son-in-law] with speciall charge for the speedy Delivery thereof yet the said Frayly Delayed and neglected to Deliver the said Letters in Contempt of the aforesaid Charge by which means that unhappy mariage was made. Ordered that he be punished by Receiveing 10 stripes on his bare back well layd on Dureing the Courts sitting and stand bound with security for his good behaviour for one whole yeare.

"Whereas Mr. Nich. Tylor hath been a great promoter and abettor of the aforesaid unlawfull mariage ordered that the marshall take the said Tylor into Costody and him to hold till he become bound with good security for his good behaviour forone whole yeare and be fo Ever Disabled from bearing any office or Trust in this Government Civill or military.

"Wheras Capt. Tho. Blount hath been a very great promotter and Abettor of the aforesaid unlawfull Mariage Ordered that the marshall take into Costody untill he give bond with security for his good behaviour for one whole year and be for Ever Disabled from bearing any office or trust in this Government Either Civill or Military."

A footnote states that this manuscript is in the same form and handwriting as minutes of the General Court, 1700-1702.

Returning again to the Parker biographical sketch:

"Blount lived in Chowan Precinct until about 1696, when he moved to Perquimans. Meetings of the assembly, council, general court, and court of chancery were held at his house in Perquimans in February 1696/67. He later resumed residence in Chowan and in September 1701 lived at the mouth of Kendrick's Creek in what is now Wahington County. He made his home there for the remainder of his life."

The Assembly on November 12, 1701 apointed a vestry for Chowan Precinct consisting of 12 men, including Capt. Thomas Blount. They were all present at the first meeting, held at the home of Thomas Gillam on December 15, 1701. Vestry minutes from April 24, 1703 include the following entries:

"Information being made by Capt. Thomas Blount that Elinor Adams is of Infirmity and Indigence is great Danger of being lost for Want of ______

"The same being taken into Consideration.

"Ordered that Capt. Thomas Blount treat with Docr. Godfrey Spruill in _____ to her Cure and that Doctor Godfrey Spruil be paid for his Physick and Care _____ the Church-Wardens five pounds, and Capt. Thomas Blount is requested ____ Vestry to endeavour to oblige the Said Elenor to Serve the Doctor for the _____ of his House and nursing....

"There being Want of Some Letters for the Stamping the Weights and Measures for the Standard And Capt. Thomas Blount undertakes to ____ a Small letter C for Stamping the Styllyards and potts and Weights &c and a larger C for the half Bushell and Peck." See Raymond Parker Fouts, Vestry Minutes of St. Paul's Parish, Chowan County, North Carolina 1701-1706, pp. 1, 5-6.

The following is from C. Wingate Reed, Beaufort County Two Centuries of Its History (Raleigh, NC, 1962), 22, 24:

"The first recorded land grant in Beaufort County, upon which entry was made, was issued by Governor Harvey on 5 March, 1697, to Captain Thomas Blount. This grant was for 266 acres on the north bank of the Pamlico and west of Mallard Creek, on what is now known as Ragged Point. Blount made entry upon this land on 21 May 1701.... Captain Thomas Blount received his grant to land on Ragged Point for transporting... persons to the Pamlico. Apparently two of them were either indentured servants or slaves." See also Beaufort County, Deed Book I, p. 1. Two of the persons transported by Blount were William Hancock and his wife, Elizabeth. See William Shadrack Hancock, Hancock Family History (Dade City, FL, 1983), 10.

Thomas Blount was occasionally involved in litigation:

"Know All Men by these Psents that I Thomas Blunt of Chowan Pcinct Have Hereby Constituted ordained and Made My Trustey and Wellbeloved friend James Oats of Perquemons Pcinct My true and Lawfull Aturney for Me and In My Name And To My Use To Aske demand And recover of any Person Within the Pcinct of Pequemons afore said Any Sume of Sumes of Money Porke Tobacco or Other goods And Merchandies doe to Me In the said Pcinct And upon refusall or Non payment the Person Soe Neglecting to arres S?ue Imprison And In plead or Inprison porceed? to Judgment and Execution And Upon Satisfaccon had And Made Againse Our of Prison to relese Discharge And one or More Acquittances And Discharges for Me and In My Name To Make Signe And deliver hereby Ratifieing And Confirming All And Whatsoever Lawfull Act or Acts My Said Attorney Shall doe In the Pmises In Wittness

"108-69

"Where of I Have HereUnto Sett My Hand And Seale this Ffirst day of Feabry.1696/7.

Signed Sealed & Delivered in ye Psents of Thomas Blunt (Seal)

Stephen Manwaring, James Ffwgeet

Provin In Court ye 12th day July 1697 by ye Oath of Stephen Manwaring, Test: John Stepney Clerk.

Recorded ye 18th day of July 1697 P. John Stepney Clerk." See Weynette Parks Hawn, Old Albemarle County North Carolina Perquimans Precinct Court Minutes 1688 Thru 1738 Book 1 (Durham, NC, 1980), 44.

On February 18, 1701/02, an arrest warrant was issued against him in the case of Crown v. Blount, "in a plea of the Case" to appear at the Court in March. The writ was "Left att the house of the defendant by me Thos. Luten provost marshall." See Wm. S. Price, Jr., ed., North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1702-1708 (Raleigh, NC, 1974), IV, 16,-17.

Thomas Blount was a defendant in an action brought by William Duckenfeild regarding a debt. See "Thomas Blount's Answer to Wm. Duckenfeild's Bill of Complaint," North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, 3, pp. 65-66.

A case from 1704 involving assault and battery and Trespass was brought by Capt. Thomas Blount against John Worley. See North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1702-1708, IV , 82, 85.

Thomas Blount left two wills. The first was dated August 4, 1701. In the will, Thomas Blount of Kendricks Creek in Albemarle County granted to his wife, Mary, 640 acres and 640 acres, etc., "provided that my children shall inherit." See Will of Thomas Blount, North Carolina State Archives. The will was presented to the General Court for recording by Thomas Blount on his last day as a member of the Court, October 30, 1701. See North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1697-1701, 460-461.

The second and final will was dated September 3, 1701. It was transcribed and published in J. Bryan Grimes, North Carolina Wills and Inventories (1912), 63-65:

"NORTH CAROLINA.

"IN YE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I, Thomas Blount, being in perfect health and sound Memory, Do make this my last will & testiment, thereby Revoke all former Wills & testements wtever in manr. & form following, viz:

"Impr. I Do give & Bequeath my soul to God yt gave it, Hopeing throw yr mercy & Merett of our Ld. & Saviour Jesus Christ, to receive a full & Genl. pardon of all my Sins; and my body to ye earth, there to be Desently Intered, acording to ye rits of ye Church of Engl., by my Execr. hereafter Named.

"Item. Whereas, by a former Will I have given Half my moveable Estate, & two plantations, known by ye names of Midle plantation, & yt whereon I now live at ye mouth of [K]endricks Creek, to my ever loving wife, Mary Blount, & her issue (provided it be to ye children Begotten of her body by me Thomas Blount), after her Death, I Do confirm and make good ye same unto her, by this my will, in man'r. as is above expresst.

"Item. As to ye part of my Estate, both real and personal, I give and bequeath as following: unto my son, James Blount, his Chare of two negroes out of ye other halfe of my sd Estate, and my shoope of smith tooles, with ye anvell, belows, & all other tools thereunto belonging, wt. the Iron & Steel & filles, and half ye tract of land Called C[a]bbin Necke, yt is to say, ye Northerly part of ye plantation, to be included in ye part belonging to him & ye boye Bonner.

"Item. I do give & bequeath all my whole stocke of Cattle, to be equally Devided between all my children begotting of sd. Mary Blount, my daughter, Billah, who has maryed to kellem tyler, to be excepted out of this gift, she having received her portion allready.

"Item. I give and bequeath to my daughter, Billah, aforesd. one silver spoon.

"Item. As to ye rest of my Estate, tis my will & Desire yt it should be brought to an apprismt & out of it pay unto my three daughters, Sarah Peirce, Christian Ludford, & Ann Wilson, these sums hereafter named, yt is to say, unto my Sarah tenne pound Sterl. to be paid in Country Commodity; to my daughter, Christian, twenty Pounds Sterl. to be pd. as aforesd. & to my daughter, Ann, twenty Pounds Sterl. to be paid in like manner: and in case of the death of any of my aforesd daughters, ye same to be paid to either of their heirs: & to each of them one silver spoon: & further I Do give unto either of my two daughters last named, being Christian, & Ann, two yews and a Ram, to each of them, and in case my sd Estate so appraised, after the things before giving away, do not amounted to ye sd sumes of money, by me giveing them, my said daughters, to be paid proportionable out of w't it is apraised to: but if it shall amount to more then it my further will & Desire yt my two sones, John and Thomas, shall have each of them a negro, & for want of negroes to have ech of them five & twenty Pounds Sterl. apeace, to be pd in Country Comodity.

"Item. I do give and bequeath ye other half or Moitye of ye tract of land, called C[a]bbin Necke, unto my son, John, and his heirs; & for want of heirs, it to come to my sone, James, & his heir; and if my son, James shall dye w'tout heirs, his part to com to my son John & his heirs.

"Item. As to ye rest of my Estate, after my wife's half paid and Delivered her, and my Above Legacys being paid as herein expressed, I Doe give and bequeath unto my son, James Blount, & his heirs forever, whom I make my full and sole Execucter of this my last will and Testiment, Declaring & Publishing this to be soe: as,

"Witness my hand and seal, this third Day of September, in ye year of our Lord, Seventeen hundred & one, & in ye 13th. year of ye reign of our Soveraign L'd. William ye 3rd, King of England, &c.

Thomas Blount (Seal)

"A Codicil to my Will: This is my futher will & pleasure, yt ye legacys within my said Will giving & exprest, shall be pd. w'thin eighteen months after my decease. as, witness my hand & seal ye year and day abovesd.

Thomas Blount (Seal)

"Signed & seald in presence of
Wm. Wilkison. [or Willson]
John Blount.
Thomas Green.

March 28th 1706.

"The within will was proved before me the Honble: Thos. Cary, Esqr., D: Gov:, by ye oathes of Tho: Green & John Blount, who upon their oahtes Say that they did see ye withinTho: Blount, Sign, Seal, & acknowledge ye within written, to be his last Will & Testamt.

Thomas Cary.

Copied from Original Will filed in the Office of the Secretary of State."

Col. William Wilkinson, an associate and fellow vestryman of Thomas Blount, left in his will dated July 24, 1704, gold rings valued at twenty shillings apiece to Capt. Thomas Blount, John Blount, Capt. Thomas Luton and William Glover. It is doubtful that Thomas Blount ever received the bequest because their wills were probated only nine days apart in March 1706.

Thomas Blount was one of the leaders of the North Carolina colony. He was a planter, carpenter, shipbuilder, blacksmith, metalworker, church leader and public official. See Virginia W. Westergard and Kyle S. VanLandingham, Parker and Blount in Florida (Okeechobee, FL, 1983), 212-214; Marilu Burch Smallwood, Related Royal Families (Gainesville, FL, 1966), 367-369, 393-396.

Notes for MARY PERRY:

Mary (Perry) Scott Blount is believed to have been the daughter of Jeremiah Perry, who left a will in Chowan Precinct of Albemarle County on October 8, 1694. He left a bequest to Christian Blount, daughter of Thomas Blount. See Will of Jeremiah Perry, North Carolina State Archives.

Mary first married Joshua Scott, son of Joseph Scott. They had two daughters, Grace and Sarah. Joshua left his will in Albemarle County, January 8, 1685/86. Soon afterwards, in May 1686, Mary married Thomas Blount. Thomas served as guardian for his stepdaughter, Grace Scott. See Wills of Joseph and Joshua Scott, North Carolina State Archives; See Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, I, 182.

On June 6, 1701, William Fryly of Perquimans Precinct, "Joiner," and his wife Grace (Scott) Fryley, and Thomas and Mary Blount, conveyed to Edmund "Peirce" a "Gent...all that their several Plantations commonly called or known by the Name of Old Scott Joshua Scott & a tract of land on the north side of Perquimans River containing by estimation 1050 acres, with all houses, fencing etc...to the same tracts belonging...being in Perquimans Prect & all their Joint & several Rights & Tithes..." See Perquimans County Record of Deeds, 1681-1729, C.077.40001, No. 169, North Carolina State Archives.

The above named grantors appointed "Mr. Robart Ffendall" to be their "Attorney to Acknowledg this Within deed in Court And to deliver possesion by turf and twig." The deed was proved at Precinct Court, July 8, 1701, and recorded July 14, 1701. See Weynette Parks Haun, Old Albemarle County North Carolina Perquimans Precinct Court Minutes 1688-1738 Book 1 (Durham, NC, 1980), 27.

On August 2, 1700, a petition was presented to the North Carolina General Court:

"Capt. Thos. Blount and Mary his Wife by theire humble Petition Praying That the said Mary may be Posessed with that part of the Land that was Left her by the Will of Joshua Scott her Late Deceased husband and the Honorable Court haveing Considered the Premisses and Examined the Will of the said Joshua Scott are of the Opinion that the aforesaid Mary Wife of Capt. Thos. Blounte hath a Right to what is above six hundred Acres of the Plantation whereon Wm. Frayly Lives that is to say all the Land the said Scott was posessed with." See Parker, North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1697-1701, 372.

In his two wills, Thomas Blount left two plantations to his wife, Mary Blount. First, she received the manor plantation at Kendrick's Creek and secondly, the Middle Plantation. The wills contained the provision that the lands would pass from her at her death to her children by Thomas Blount, the testator. See Wills of Thomas Blount, North Carolina State Archives.

After the death of Thomas Blount, Mary had some difficulties with her stepson, James Blount, who was named executor of the last will. On May 21, 1706, a citation was issued to Mrs. Mary Blount, "widdow and relict of Mr. Thomas Blount deceased personally to be and appear before the Honorable the Governor and Councell at the house of Captain John Hecklefield in Litle river on the third day of the next Generall Court then there to Shew Cause why Letters Testamenary may not be Granted to Mr. James Blount pursuant to the last Will and Testament of the Said Thomas Blount..." See Price, North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1702-1708, IV, 474-475.

In 1706, Mary Blount petitioned the Governor and Council that "James Blount hath from your Petition Eight Negroes Clandestinly from the said Mary taken away and the same in his Custody keps and wil not render to your Petitioner wherefore she humbly Craves an order for the same..." At the same time, "Kallam Tylor" petitioned that James Blount had taken and carried away a Negro belonging to him. The Executive Council addressed Mary's petition on November 1, 1706:

"Whereas att a Councell holden 29th day of Augt. 1706 It was ordered that the Estate of Thomas Blount in the possession of Mrs. Mary Blount Sho'd be devided and by reason of Some questions arriseing about the understanding of the said order it was not divided Since which the Said James Blount hath possessed him selfe of Some part of said Estate.

"Ordered that the honorable Jno. [illegibl]e Esqr. Christopher Gale Esqr. Nathaniell Chevin and Tobias Knight or any three of them shall at or before the 15th day of this Instant November doe make division of the Said Estate as well what is in the hands of James Blount and what is in the hands of Jennet Blount as what is in the hands and Custody of the said Mary Blount and that the said James Blount doe bring Such part of the Said Estate as is in his hands to the house of the said Mary Blount at Such tyme as the said Estate shall be divided as aforesaid And that both of them doe produce upon Oath what of the said Estate they have in their hands.

"And upon Motion of both partyes Concerneing the legacy of Catle given in the Second will It is the oppinion of this Board that the Said Legacy of Cattle is to be paid out of that halfe whereof the said James is Executor and that shee have a full and Cleare halfe of the whole personnall Estate Except her halfe part of the Charge in Law that has arrisen about the proveing of the Wills and Suits thereon depending or shall arrise upon the Account of the Divideing the Same." See Robert J. Cain, ed., Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] Volume VII Records of the Executive Council 1664-1732 (Raleigh, NC, 1984), 6-7, 411.

The estate problems were finally resolved on November 13, 1706 when James Blount relinquished every legacy to him from the last will and testament of Thomas Blount in exchange for five "negroes." Of course, by this conveyance James gave up title to his 1/2 share of the Cabbin Neck property. The deed was registered in the April Court of 1708. See Chowan County, Deed Book W#1, p. 81.

Mary Blount was still a widow on April 18, 1708 when the minutes of St. Paul's Parish mention that "on petition of Madam Mary Blount for accomodating a poor indigent man, named Thomas Wright, at her house in his sickness one week, whereof he died and was buried at her charge, prays allowance. Ordered that she be paid by the public forty shillings. " This was the same vestry meeting that appointed a successor to Thomas Blount,--Col. Edward Mosely. See Colonial Records of North Carolina, I, p. 679.

Mary Blount was a wealthy and eligible widow. She married for the third time to Thomas Lee. She lived a few more years and executed her will on September 26, 1716. It was probated October 31, 1716. In the will she left her son Thomas Blount one half of the "manner plantation with the manner house." Her daughter, Silpia (Zilpha) received the "other halfe of the manner plantation." Sons Benjamin and Jacob Blount received the "Middle Plantation." She named her son, Thomas Blount, as executor. See Will of Mary Blount Lee, North Carolina State Archives.

Thomas Blount sold his share of the manor plantation, 340 acres, to Thomas Lee on January 24, 1716/17. See Chowan County, Deed Book B#1, p. 407.

Zilpha subsequently married John Edwards and sold her half of the manor plantation to John Powell on October 30, 1722. See Chowan County, Deed Book C#1, p. 309.

Benjamin Blount assigned his share of the Middle Plantation to his brother Jacob on January 13, 1717/18. Jacob then sold the entire tract of 606 acres to William Downing, shipwright, on January 30, 1717/18. The land was called "Rich Neck" on Kendricks Creek. See Chowan County, Deed Book B#1, p. 537, 543.

Thomas Lee left his will on March 14, 1716/17 and it was probated on July 6, 1719. By this time he had remarried to Mary, widow of John Bailey. He left Cabbin Neck to his brother, William Lee. That would have been the 1/2 portion of Cabbin Neck which James Blount gave up to his stepmother, Mary Blount in 1707. All other lands and his mill were bequeathed to Lee's son, Stephens Lee. See Chowan County, Deed Book B#1, p. 412; Will of Thomas Lee, North Carolina State Archives.

The last of Thomas Blount, Sr.'s property was the 1/2 share of Cabbin Neck which he had bequeathed to his son, John Blount. John sold that property, 640 acres, to William Downing, March 1, 1729. See Smallwood, Related Royal Families, 395.

In 1723, John Powell, owner of half of the manor plantation, petitioned the General Court to divide the property since the other half had been sold by Thomas Blount to Thomas Lee, now deceased. William Downing and Edward Moseley, executors of the estate of Thomas Lee, consented to the division. See North Carolina Higher-Court Records 1709-1723, V, 348.

Finally, in October 1724, William Downing petitioned the General Court that:

"...whereas by the last Will of Mr. Thomas Blount late of this Province he did give and appoynt three Acres of land to be taken out of a Tract of Land then in his possession known bythe name of the middle Plantation for the use of a Mill on the sayd Tract and to be contiguous with the sayd Mill; and Your Honors Petitioner having Since bought the sayd Tract of Land and the said three Acres having never yet been Surveyed or Sett apart from the said Tract humbly prayeth that an Order of this honorble Court may be granted him for the Surveying and Seting apart the sayd three Acres of Land according to the sayd Will for the use of the Sayd Mill and as little to the prejudice of the sayd Tract of land as possible And your Honors Petitioner is in duty bound shall ever pray etc.

Signed W. Downing.

Which was granted And Order'd that the land be laid out according to the Said Will, the aforesaid William Downing giving timely notice thereof to the aforesaid Thomas Blount's Orphans or their Guardians." See Cain, Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] Volume VI North Carolina Higher-Court Minutes 1724-1730, 65-66.

It is understood that the original mill was established by Capt. Thomas Blount. See North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register 2 (April 1901), 312-313; Lida T. Rodman Manuscript, Wm. Blount Rodman Papers 1817-1893, Papers1820-1893, North Carolina State Archives.

Children of THOMAS BLOUNT and UNKNOWN are:

Children of THOMAS BLOUNT and MARY PERRY are:

4. JOHN² BLOUNT (JAMES¹)^31,32 was born September 16, 1669 in North Carolina, and died March 17, 1725/26 in Chowan Precinct, Albemarle Co. North Carolina. He married ELIZABETH DAVIS³³ June 11, 1695, daughter of JOHN DAVIS and MARY BURTON.

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and ELIZABETH DAVIS are:

5. JAMES³ BLOUNT (THOMAS², JAMES¹)^35,36 was born 1672 in Alebemarle County, North Carolina. He married (1) KATHERINE TYLER^37,38, daughter of NICHOLAS TYLER. He married (2) MARY TYLER^39,40, daughter of NICHOLAS TYLER.

Child of JAMES BLOUNT and KATHERINE TYLER is:

6. THOMAS³ BLOUNT, JR (THOMAS², JAMES¹)^42,43 was born 1687 in Perquimans Precinct, Albermarle Co., N. C., and died 1729 in Beaufort Precinct, Bath County, North Carolina. He married ANN ELIZABETH READING^44,45 Aft. July 12, 1708, daughter of LIONEL READING and MARY.

Notes for THOMAS BLOUNT, JR:

Thomas Blount, Jr., was the eldest son of Thomas and Mary (Perry) Scott Blount.

In the will of his father, dated September 3, 1701, Thomas was granted one "negro" or if one was not available, 25 pounds sterling, payed in country commodity.

Thomas married Ann Elizabeth Reading, daughter of Lionel Reading, after 1708. See will of Lionel Reading, North Carolina State Archives.

Thomas and Ann lived in Bath County in the area known as Pamtecough Precinct, which became Beaufort Precinct in 1712.

At a meeting of the North Carolina Executive Council, November 4, 1713, there is the following entry:

"It apearing to this Board that Kellam Tyler is Dead and hath left One Only Child by Name Katharine Tyler liveing and an Infant and Thos. Blount being nearest of Kin to the said Kellam

"It is Ordered by this Board that the Said Thos. Blount have the Guardianship and Tuition of the Said Katharine Tyler And also Administration of all the Goods and Chatles that were of the Said Kellams on behalfe of the Said katherine and dureing her Minority." See Robert J. Cain, ed., The Colonial Records of NorthCarolina [Second Series] Volume VII Records of the Executive Council 1664-1734 (Raleigh, NC, 1984), 41-42.

Thomas appears on the "Corn List" for Beaufort Precinct, next to his father-in-law, "Mr. Reading." See Colonial Court Records, Box 190, Folder "Corn Lists, no dates, 1715-1716, Taxes and Accounts, 1679-1754, North Carolina State Archives.

In the will of his mother, Mary (Perry) Scott Blount Lee, dated September 26, 1716 and probated October 31 1716, Thomas Blount received 1/2 of the "manner plantation with the manner house." The other half of the manor plantation went to daughter, Silphia [Silpha, Zilpha]. See Will of Mary Lee, North Carolina State Archives.

Soon thereafter, on January 24, 1716/17, Thomas Blount of Bath County, "Gentleman, the eldest child of Captain Thomas Blount of Albemarle Co., gentleman, decd. by Mary his wife, late the wife of Joseph (sic) Scott of Perquimans," sold to Thomas Lee, his stepfather, for 100 pounds sterling, "340 acres more or less on the east side of the mouth of Kendrick's Creek and is the Plantation whereon my late father lived and by him was bequeathed to my sd. mother and by her given unto me." One of the witnesses was Lyonal Reading.

Thomas Blount appears on the 1717 Beaufort Precinct Land List with 1890 acres of land. In his own name were 610 acres on the south side of Pamlico. 1280 acres were listed "for Orph'a Tyler." See Colonial Court Records, General Court Papers (CCR-140-141), 1717-1754, 1751-1787, S. 138.5, North Carolina State Archives.

He also appears on the 1723 List of Freeholders in Beaufort and Hyde Precincts. See C. Wingate Reed, Beaufort County Two Centuries of its History (Raleigh, NC, 1962), 226.

Thomas Blount was a man of violent temperament. The following case of Green v. Blount was initiated in 1726 in the North Carolina General Court of Oyer and Terminer:

"Samuel Green by William Little his atorney complaines against Thomas Blount of Bath County planter in custody etc. of a plea for that the Defendant Videlicet in Bath County on or about the fifteenth day of July One thousand seven hundred and twenty six by force and Armes an Asault on the plantiff did make and him did Cruelly beat batter bruise and wound and aginst Law imprison'd the plantiff in great pain for a long time Videlicet for two Months did languish and his labour lost and was at Expence for cure and in great perill and danger of his life all which doings of the Defendant is against the peace of Our Lord the King and to the plaintiff's damage One hundred pounds and thereon he brings this Suite etc. And the sayd Defendant tho' solemnly required came not nor did the Marshall make returne of Bond or security taken for the Defendant's Appearance as by law he ought. Therefore at the plaintiff's Motion It is Order'd that the provost Marshall have the body of the Defendant at the next Court Otherwise Judgment to be confirm'd against him for the damages aforesayd and Costs Whereupon the Sayd Marshall prayed an Attachment against the Estate of the Defendant for the like sum with Costs thereby to compell him to appear etc. at the next Court on the last Tuesday in March next Which was Granted."

In March 1727, Blount was represented by John Bapa. Ashe, his attorney, "came forth and defends the force and injury when etc. and Sayth that he is not guilty of the Trespass and Assault which the plaintiff above against him hath declared and puts himself upon the Country..."

The case was continued until October 1728 when "now here at this day...Came the plaintiff aforesyd by Wm. Little his Atorney and pray'd leave to discontinue his Sayd Suite against the Sayd Thos. Blount Wherefore it is consider'd that the sayd Defendant may go thereof without day and that the plaintiff pay Costs alias Execution." See Robert J. Cain, ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina [Second Series] Volume VI North Carolina Higher-Court Minutes 1724-1730 (Raleigh, NC, 1981), 316, 349, 396, 433, 477, 513.

In another civil suit, Mittam v. Blount, Samuel Mittam alleged that on or about August 28, 1726, Thomas Blount violated the laws against improperly marking the livestock of another, specifically a "certain Red Cow Calf of about five Months old" and valued at ten shillings. He sued for ten shillings, plus the statutory amount of ten pounds. Later, a jury was "impannel'd and Sworne" at which point the plaintiff's attorney moved to discontinue the action. "And by the Court here it is Consider'd that the sayd Defendant may go thereof without day and that the plaintiff be from hence in mercy for his false Clamour and that he pay Costs alias Execution." See Volume VI, North Carolina Higher-Court Minutes, 318-319, 396.

There was also a criminal action against Thomas Blount which commenced in 1727. He was indicted for breach of the peace by a grand jury of the "General Court of Oyer and Terminer of Genl Gaole Delivery held for the Sayd province at the Courthouse in Edenton begun on Tuesday the twenty eight day of March one thousand Seven hundred and twenty seven..."

Attorney General William Little, Esq., "comes to prosecute a Bill of Indictment against Thomas Blount for breach of the peace found by the Grand Jury in these Words Viz North Caroina March Genl Court One thousand Seven hundred & twenty Seven.

"The Jurors for Our Sovereign Lord the King on their Oath do present and Say that one the eighteenth day of this instant March Viz in Bath County One Thomas Blount of the Sayd Bath Counter planter by force and Armes an Assault & grievous batter did make on Robert Campain of the Sayd County and him then & there the Sayd Thomas did beat Batter bruise and sorely wound with Sticks Clubbs and fist insomuch that his life was despaired of Wherefore Wee the sayd Jurors on Our Sayd Oath do present that the Sayd Thomas Blount for Trespass & breach of the peace at the time & place and in manner as aforesayd against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is his Crown & dignity &c And on the Motion of the Sayd Attorney Genl It is Orderd that the Marshall take into his Custody the body of the sayd Thomas Blount so as to have him before Our Cheif Justice & the rest of the Justices of the Genl Court at the next Court to be held at the Court House in Edenton the last Tuesday in July next on the third day of the Sayd Court then & there to make answer to the aforesayd Bill of Indictment."

On July 28, 1727, Thomas Blount did not appear and an Alias Capias was ordered to be returned at the next Court in October. Thomas did not appear in October and the writ was continued until March 1728. In March the case was continued until July 1728. In July the Attorney General was sick and unable to attend and the case was continued until October. Finally, on November 3, 1728, Chief Justice Gale informed the Council that the Blount case and several others "had laine before the General Court for a Considerable time" and the Council "Ordered That the Attorney General Enter a Noli Prosequi against the said Prosecutions" which was done. See William L. Saunders, ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 1713-1728 (Raleigh, NC, 1886), II, 686, 694-695, 707, 715, 817, 820, 823, 830-831.

"Thomas Blunt, Planter," sold to Phillip Williams 330 acres on the north side of Pamptico River in Bath County, for 50 pounds on January 21, 1728, for 50 pounds. See Beaufort County, Record Book I, p. 505.

On April 9, 1725, John Porter sold to Thomas "Blunt" 1,000 acres on the south side of Pamtico in Bath County, for 200 pounds. The deed was proven in December Court, 1729. See Beaufort County, Record Book 2, p. 16.

The above property on the south side of Pamtico was again conveyed in a document from Sarah Porter, widow of John Porter, Dec. 1, 1729, to Reading Blount "eldest son to the sd. Thomas Blount" as Thomas had died by this date. See Beaufort County, Record Book 2, pp. 16-17.

Reading Blount , "Natural and Lawful Son" of Thomas Blount, conveyed 610 acres, presumably part of the above property, to his stepfather, John Caldom, Sept. 16, 1736. The deed cited a patent of Dec. 19, 1715, for the land on Tylers Creek, south side of Pamlico. See Beaufort County, Record Book 2, p. 245.

Thomas Blount was the progenitor of the "Tar River Blounts."

He died about 1729.

Notes for ANN ELIZABETH READING:

Ann Reading received in her father, Lionel Reading's will, "one Negro woman, called Diana, with one bed & Furniture, one Iron Pott, with Five pound current money; & cour Cows & Calves, to be Delivered att the age of fifteen years, or at ye day of her marriage; with her Mothers Consent." Lionel's will was dated July 12, 1708 in Bath County, North Carolina.

Ann soon after married Thomas Blount and was the mother of four sons, Reading, James, John and Jacob.

"Ann's husband, Thomas Blount, died about 1729 and she administered his estate. Her brother Churchill Reading, and a neighbor, Thomas Worsley, Junior, went on her bond for 1000 pounds. The widow soon remarried, this time John Caldom (Caldon, or Coldam). Caldom was a justice of the peace in Beaufort County in 1734 and he purchased land on the south side of Pamlico River in 1736. Ann and Caldom had one son, Churchill Caldom. Caldom died in 1740 and Ann Elizabeth, this time signed Elizabeth, proved his estate. Ann Elizabeth herself died soon after this." See Alice Barnwell Keith, ed., The John Gray Blount Papers, Volume I, 1764-1789 (Raleigh, NC, 1952), xiv. See also footnotes 5-9 on same page.

Churchill Caldom, son of John and Ann Elizabeth (Reading) Blount Caldom, married Margaret Powers and had a daughter Ann Caldom who married Col. John Patten, U.S. Army. They had two children, Hans and Anne, who m. Stephen Cambreling. See Churchill J. Cambreling, Cambreling Family Genealogy, 11 (copy at Beaufort County Library, Washington, NC).

Lionel Reading, the father of Ann Elizabeth (Reading) Blount Caldom, was a native of England. He was one of the original settlers of the town of Bath County, North Carolina, and the Town of Bath.

On Feb. 23, 1701/2, Thomas Pollock sold to Lyonell Reading 640 acres on the south side of Pamtico River. See Beaufort County, Record Book 1, p. 19.

John Lawson and Joel Martin conveyed to Lyonell Reading one lot in Bath Town, consisting of 1/2 acre, Oct. 20, 1706. See Beaufort County, Record Book 1, p. 62.

Lyonell Reading, in 1703, alerted the colonists of a possible Indian war threat in documents contained in the North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register.

On July 12, 1708, Lyonell Reading granted a Power of Attorney to Mary Reading, his wife, and Humphrey Legg. See Beaufort County, Record Book 1, p. 99.

Also, on July 12, 1708, Lionel Reading, "Esq." executed his will. He left his wife, Mary, a life estate in his plantation, a "Negro Woman called Joan...Four Cows & Calves; & also all the male Cattle wth what hogs and Sheep shall be found on & belonging to ye Plantation I now live on..." Mary also received household furniture and implements. The son Nathaniel received the Planatation after his mother's decease, "Provided he returns back from England," otherwise a reversion to son Churchill. Also named were daughters Sarah and her husband David Dupuis; Mary, Ann and son Thomas. The will was not probated until years later, Feb. 18, 1725. By that time, Mary had died and Lionel had remarried to Grace -------. See Will of Lionel Reading, Bath Co., NC, North Carolina State Archives.

Grace Reading is identified as the "relict of Lionell Reading" in a Power of Attorney granted to Benjamin Peyton, her "kinsman," Apr. 16, 1735. See Beaufort County, Record Book 2, p. 180.

Lionel Reading figured prominently in the early history of Bath [Beaufort] County. He built a substantial house on the south side of the Pamlico, one of the few which escaped the destruction of the Tuscarora War in 1711. During the period of Cary's Rebellion, 1707-1711, Lionel Reading, a vestryman of St. Thomas' Church in Bath, was identified with the Anglican Church Party and opposed Cary. Lionel Reading was a member of the new Assembly which met in March 1711, after Cary had been removed. Lionel Reading appears on a list of freeholders in Beaufort and Hyde Precincts, Bath County, 1725. See C. Wingate Reed, Beaufort County Two Centuries of Its History (Raleigh, NC, 1962), 24, 38, 45, 59-61, 68, 72, 82, 151.

Children of THOMAS BLOUNT and ANN READING are:

7. BENJAMIN³ BLOUNT (THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁴⁶ was born Abt. 1688 in Perquimans Precinct, Albemarle County, North Carolina, and died 1740 in Tyrrell County, North Carolina. He married ELIZABETH EVERETT⁴⁶ Abt. 1714 in North Carolina.

Children of BENJAMIN BLOUNT and ELIZABETH EVERETT are:

8. JACOB³ BLOUNT (THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁴⁸ was born Abt. 1690 in Perquimans Precinct, Albemarle County, North Carolina, and died Abt. 1766 in Tyrrell County, North Carolina. He married (1) ELIZABETH LONG⁴⁸ Abt. 1714 in North Carolina. He married (2) JOHANNA SPRUILL Abt. 1729 in North Carolina.

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and ELIZABETH LONG are:

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and JOHANNA SPRUILL are:

9. JOHN³ BLOUNT (THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁵⁰ was born Abt. 1695 in North Carolina, and died Bet. 1764 - 1766 in Tyrrell County, North Carolina. He married ELIZABETH UNKNOWN.

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and ELIZABETH UNKNOWN are:

10. READING⁴ BLOUNT (THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁵² was born Abt. 1710 in Beaufort Precinct, Bath Co. North Carolina, and died Aft. November 27, 1776 in Beaufort, North Carolina. He married UNKNOWN BRYAN Abt. 1735 in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Children of READING BLOUNT and UNKNOWN BRYAN are:

11. JAMES⁴ BLOUNT (THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁵⁴ was born Abt. 1714 in North Carolina. He married UNKNOWN SLADE.

Children of JAMES BLOUNT and UNKNOWN are:

12. JOHN⁴ BLOUNT (THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^55,56 was born Abt. 1715 in Beaufort Precinct, Bath Co., N. C., and died Abt. 1765 in Beaufort Precinct, Bath. Co., N. C.. He married MARTHA LEWIS⁵⁷ Abt. 1738 in North Carolina.

Notes for JOHN BLOUNT:

John Blount appears as a legatee in the will of his uncle, Churchill Reading, dated September 19, 1734, in Bath County, North Carolina. He received Churchill's "Plantation at Swifts Creek" and "8 winter Cows and Calfs." John's brother Jacob, and half brother Churchill Caldom, also received gifts in the will. See Will of Churchill Reading, North Carolina State Archives.

On December 7, 1749, Reading Blount deeded to John Blount, "brother of the said Reading" for 300 pounds, a parcel of land "Situate lying and being on the east side of Chocowinteh Swamp, on the South side of Pampico River joining the mark and line of said Reading Blounts plantation known by the name of Parcells Point containing by estimation 300 acres more or less and is part of a larger tract of land by me taken up, containing 645 acres as by the patent bearing date 9th September 1749." See Beaufort County, Deed Book 3 1748-1763, p. 35.

Jno. Blunt appears on the 1755 tax list for Beaufort County, North Carolina. He is shown with four black taxables, making a total of five taxables in the household.

Also on the list were Reading Blount, son and eight blacks. Also there were listings for Joseph Blunt, James Blunt, Thomas Blunt and Jacob Blunt.

See Wm. Perry Johnson, comp., "1755 Tax List of Beaufort County, North Carolina,"

The North Carolinian 2 (September 1956), 205-206.

John Blount's wife Martha, is believed to have been a Lewis, according to the Blount Manuscript in the Helen M. Prescott Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina. They had a total of eight children as listed in the Blount Manuscript and also in William Henry Stephens and Mary Louise Chapman, comps., Blount and Stephens Families 1782-1933, bound typewritten copy in Knoxville, Tennessee Library, pp. 10-11. From another Blount manuscript, owned by Mrs. Mutter Blount Myers of Washington, North Carolina, six children are listed: Lewis, Thomas, Nancy, Chloe, Jacob and Churchill. See Marilu Burch Smallwood, Related Royal Families (Gainesville, FL, 1966), 397.

John Blount and his sons Jacob and Churchil appear on the 1764 Beaufort County, North Carolina, Tax List. Their household consisted of three white taxables and two blacks for a total of five taxables. See North Carolina Secretary of State Papers, Box SS 837, North Carolina State Archives.

John Blount's will is dated September 6, 1765. Parts of the will are torn and missing. The original is in the State Archives. It includes the following bequests: Wife: Martha Blount, "my Manor Plantation whereon I now dwell during the term of her widowhood and after her decease or marriage which shall come first------then I give and Bequeath the said plantation -----------. " Martha also received "two negro men Slaves to witt, Jack and Donas and all other my goods and chatals whatever I find to her during her widowhood except such things are hereafter Bequeathed. Item------I give to my-----------------one of my negro men and with the money buy a negroe woman to assist my wife which Likewise I lend to her during her widowhood. Item, I give to my loving wife Martha My white mare named Flower and a side saddle and Bridle, my will further is that the other neagroe is not ordered to be sold, should misbehaviour ------------I wish the money buy a neagro woman for the Benefits of my children, which said Negro woman, I likewise lend to my wife during her widowhood. Item, I give and bequeath to my son Churchill a sorrell mare named Fancy common called Jacob Mare and the first mare colt she brings. --------to my son Lewis Item--------------My goods and chattles Exclusive of the money that may arise from the sale of one or both of my neagroes, I apoint Reading Blount Junr Joseph Blount and my son Jacob Blount My Executers and my Brother Reading Blount Trustee of this my Last Will in--------..." Witnesses were Robert Salter, Margaret Calef and James Norcom? On the back of the will is the notation JOHN BLOUNTS WILL Received Wyriott Ormond C 1765.

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and MARTHA LEWIS are:

13. JACOB⁴ BLOUNT (THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁶¹ was born 1726 in Beaufort Precinct, Bath Co. North Carolina, and died August 17, 1789 in Blount Hall, Pitt Co, North Carolina. He married (1) MARY ADAMS⁶². He married (2) BARBARA GRAY 1748 in North Carolina. He married (3) HANNAH SALTER⁶³ Bef. 1768.

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and BARBARA GRAY are:

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and HANNAH SALTER are:

14. JACOB⁵ BLOUNT (JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^74,75 was born Abt. 1740 in Beaufort County, North Carolina, and died Bef. 1784 in South Carolina or Georgia. He married MARTHA UNKNOWN⁷⁶ Abt. 1760 in Georgia.

Notes for JACOB BLOUNT:

Jacob Blount first appears as a taxable, along with his brother Churchill, in the household of his father, John Blount, on the 1764 Beaufort County, North Carolina, Tax List. See North Carolina Secretary of State Papers, Box SS 837, North Carolina State Archives.

Jacob Blount was named as one of the executors in the will of his father, John Blount, in September 1765.

On October 9, 1769, Jacob Blount of Beaufort County, North Carolina, sold to his brother Lewis Blount for 20 pounds, 200 acres of land. This property adjoined Jacob's plantation and was part of a larger tract originally owned by Reading Blount and conveyed in 1749 to his brother John Blount. The deed was witnessed by Isaac Clark and Churchill Caldon Blount. See Beaufort County, Deed Book 4, 1763-1778, p. 241.

Jacob Blount and Martha Blount sold 200 acres to his uncle Reading Blount, on February 27, 1773 for 100 pounds. It was on the south side of Pamtico River and the east side of Chowinity Swamp and was part of a larger tract of land originally granted patented September 29, 1749. Witnesses Reading Blount, Joseph Blount and Jesse Blount, sons of the grantee. See Beaufort County, Deed Book 4, 1763-1778, pp. 385-386.

It has long been understood that Jacob Blount and his brother Churchill Caldom Blount moved to South Carolina. A deed from John and Ann Patten to Reading Blount in Beaufort County, North Carolina, dated February 26, 1774, states that Churchill Coldham Blount "is departed from this province". See William Henry Stephens and Mary Louise Chapman, comps., Blount and Stephens Families, 1782-1933, bound typewritten copy in McClung Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee Library; Beaufort County, Deed Book 4. p. 386.

Actually, Jacob Blount moved to Georgia, close to the South Carolina line and had ties to South Carolina as well. On July 25, 1768, he witnesed a deed from William Bagley to Robert Hudson. See Book S, pp. 303, 304, referenced in Index to Georgia Colonial Conveyances and Confiscated Land Records, 12.

In Allen D. Candler, Colonial Records of Georgia, XI, 1770-1771 (Atlanta, GA, 1907), 387-388, we find the following:

"At a Council held in the Council Chamber at Savannah on Wednesday the 5th June 1771.....Read a Petition of Jacob Blount Setting forth that he had been several years in the Province but never had any land granted him and being now desirous of Obtaining Land for Cultivation Therefore praying for One hundred Acres of land on Briar Creek near Land of O'Brien to be run Square....Resolved That on Condition tht the Petitioner doth take out a Grant for the said land within Seven Months from this date and that he doth also Register the said Grant in the Register's Office of the said Province within Six Months from the date thereof that his Majesty May not be defrauded of his Quit Rents the Prayer of the said Petition is granted----"

In Colonial Records of Georgia, XIX, part 1(Atlanta, GA,1911), 480, Jacob Blount was paid two pounds and one shilling for apprehending John Powell and bringing him to Savannah, July 28, 1772.

By early 1773, Jacob Blount had disposed of his property in North Carolina and on January 23, 1775 he was granted 100 acres in St. Matthew's Parish, bounded by vacant land. The land was between the Ogeechee River and the Savannah River.

The Savannah Georgia Gazette of May 4, 1774 reported that Jacob Blount was involved in a lawsuit against James Moore involving land northeast on the River Savannah.

A legal advertisement appeared in the Savannah Georgia Gazette, June 28, 1775:

"to be sold at Savannah on Thursday the 27th July next--the usual hour, for cash:

100 acres in the parish of St. Matthews, joining lands of Philip Dill (?) and William O'Bryan originally granted to Sir Patrick Houston. 100 acres on Horse Creek, originally granted to William Colson. 100 acres joining to above tract, originally granted Abraham Minsay. The whole property of Jacob Blount."

The American Revolution was underway and on December 13, 1775, Jacob Blunt was commissioned a second lieutenant by the President of the Georgia Council of Safety. See "Proceedings of the Georgia Council of Safety, 1775 to 1777," Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, V, part 1 (Savannah, GA, 1901), 17.

There are also references to Jacob Blount as a captain. See Lucian Lamar Knight, Georgia's Roster of the Revolution (Atlanta, GA, 1920), 17, 408.

Jacob Blount is also shown as a Surgeon's Mate in the Galley Service, Navy, and was dead by January 27, 1784. The records state that he was kidnapped in 1778. See Marion R. Hemperley, Military Certificates of Georgia 1776-1800 (Atlanta, GA), 9, 101.

The kidnapping of Jacob Blount is very interesting because the records of the Loyalist Camden Militia in South Carolina report Jacob Blount as a member. He is shown on the roll of Capt. George Platt's Company, Col. John Phillip's Regiment, Jackson's Creek Militia, Camden District, South Carolina, as a private. The members were due pay for service under Lord Rawdon from Charlestown to Ninety Six and back to Orangeburgh, 61 days, June 1-July 31, 1781. On the roll, Jacob Blount is shown as dead. See Murtie June Clark, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War (Baltimore, MD, 1981), I, 117, 163.

Was this the same Jacob Blount and if so, was he forced into the Loyalist service after he was kidnapped or did he join voluntarily?

On March 19, 1784, in Savannah, Oliver Lewis posted a bond in the amount of 1,000 pounds sterling as Administrator of the estate of Jacob Blount, deceased. Joining Lewis on the bond was Richard Donovan Murray. See Chatham County,

Probate File No. 6.

The folowing legal advertisement appeared in the Savannah The Gazette of the State of Georia, March 25, 1784:

"All persons indebted to the estate of Mr. Jacob Blount, deceased, are requested to make immediate payment; and those who have any demands against said estate are desired to deliver their accounts, properly attested, to the subscribed, at his office on the bay, a few rods south of Mr. Richard Donovan Murray's Tavern.

Oliver Lewis, Adm'r

Savannah, March 20, 1784"

In "Revolutionary Soldiers Receipts for Georgia Bounty Grants" at the Georgia State Archives there is record of the Heirs of Jacob Blount, surgeons' mate, applying for and receiving 600 acres of bounty land based upon Blount's service. 300 acres were the state bounty and 300 were provided by Congress. The claim was attested to by Commodore Oliver Bowen. The grant was dated December 9, 1785 and was for 690 acres in Washington County, and was "cut by South fork of Oconee River." See also Knight, Georgia's Roster of the Revolution, 38, 40, 253.

It should be pointed out that a deceased Tory soldier's heirs were not likely to receive a grant of land from the State of Georgia. However, nothing should be taken at face value. The mystery remains.

The late Lillian Carpenter, historian and genealogist of Bartow, Florida, compiled a small book called Blount Family History Traced to That Branch of the Family That Settled in Polk County, Florida, in October 1851. It was printed in March 1941, with additional data added in August 1942. Miss Carpenter corresponded with the eminent Blount genealogist, Helen M. Blount Prescott, regarding the Capt. James Blount family of North Carolina and the line down to John Churchill Golding Readding Blount, who settled in present-day Polk County, Florida, in 1851. Miss Carpenter mentioned that Miss Prescott had had earlier correspondence with Benjamin F. Blount, grandson of Readding, and also George Dexter Blount, grandson of Jacob Jehu Blount, brother of Readding. Miss Carpenter also had obtained notes and information compiled by George Dexter Blount, who in the early 1940s was living in Denver, Colorado. Miss Carpenter, without any proof, decided that Jacob Blount (ca.1740-ca.1781) and James Blount (ca.1760-ca.1810) were one and the same person. She made this assumption, despite Miss Prescott's conclusion that Jacob was the father of James. She also ignored the testimony of Jehu Jacob Blount (Readding's son) that his grandfather was James Blount. She further disregarded the material supplied by George Dexter Blount which showed that Jacob was the father of James. Of course, Miss Carpenter was apparently unaware of the Georgia records, cited above, which clearly show that Jacob Blount was dead by 1784 and could not have been the father of Jacob Jehu Blount and John Churchill Golding Readding Blount, since they were born in 1786 and 1791 respectively. The unpublished manuscript on the Blount family, in the handwriting of Miss Prescott, reveals that her first (and correct) version showed the line as John---Jacob---James---John Churchill Golding Readding Blount. She later revised the manuscript and left out James, apparently accepting Miss Carpenter's version. Miss Prescott's papers at the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, also do not reference the Georgia records on the Revolutionary service and death of Jacob Blount. We must conclude that the earliest sources were indeed correct:--Jehu Jacob Blount, son of Readding, was right when he said that his grandfather was James Blount. George Dexter Blount's grandfather and granduncle were right when they identified their grandfather as James Blount. Kyle S. VanLandingham has notes in Carpenter's handwriting which show that she was clearly aware of the Jacob-James connection put forth by George Dexter Blount. Finally, Miss Prescott's first version and her initial instincts were correct.

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and MARTHA UNKNOWN are:

15. LEWIS⁵ BLOUNT (JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁷⁸ was born Abt. 1748 in Beaufort County, North Carolina, and died in Beaufort County, North Carolina. He married (1) SARAH GODLEY Abt. 1770. He married (2) MARY SMAW Abt. 1799.

Notes for MARY SMAW:

Mary, widow of William Smaw.

Children of LEWIS BLOUNT and SARAH GODLEY are:

16. THOMAS⁵ BLOUNT (JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁸⁰ was born in Beaufort County, North Carolina, and died Abt. 1793. He married UNKNOWN GODLEY⁸¹.

Children of THOMAS BLOUNT and ELIZABETH GODLEY are:

17. CHLOE⁵ BLOUNT (JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁸² was born in Beaufort County, North Carolina. She married BEN GRIST⁸².

Children of CHLOE BLOUNT and BEN GRIST are:

18. JACOB⁵ BLOUNT, JR (JACOB⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^84,85 was born November 5, 1760, and died January 1801. He married (1) ANNA COLLINS, daughter of JOAIAH COLLINS and ANN LEWIS. He married (2) SUSANNAH JONES.

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and ANNA COLLINS are:

19. SHARPE⁵ BLOUNT (JACOB⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^86,87 was born April 4, 1771 in Blount Hall, Pitt Co, North Carolina, and died 1810. He married PENELOPE LITTLE 1794.

Children of SHARPE BLOUNT and PENELOPE LITTLE are:

20. JAMES⁶ BLOUNT (JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^88,89 was born Bet. 1760 - 1765 in Beaufort County, North Carolina, and died Aft. 1800 in Beaufort District, South Carolina. He married MARTHA RADFORD SPEARS⁹⁰ Abt. 1785 in South Carolina, daughter of RADFORD.

Notes for JAMES BLOUNT:

James Blount moved with his parents to Georgia about 1770.

Jehu Jacob Blount, his grandson, wrote the following to his niece, Sarah (Blount) Parker:

"James Blount father of Redding Blount served seven years under Francis Marion in the revolution." See Notes of J. J. Blount, in possession of author.

The official record of James Blount's revolutionary service can be found in "Revolutionary Audited Account of James Blount--For Militia Duty," AA 559, South Carolina State Archives.

He was paid seven pounds, 12 shillings and 10 pence plus interest for "107 days duty done under Lt. Jacob Buxton at 10s. per day." His warrant for payment was dated October 9, 1786 and is found in Book X, p. 3898.

James Blount's service is also mentioned in Bobby Gilmer Moss, Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution (Baltimore, MD, 1983), 78. The same page also references a James Blunt who enlisted in the Fourth Regiment on December 1, 1776. N.A.853.

James Blount was married about 1785 to Martha (Radford) Spears. They were living at Augusta, Georgia, in March 1791 when their son, Readding Blount, was born. During the winter of 1791-92, they moved to South Carolina. See Obituary of Readding Blount, Tampa Sunland Tribune, March 15, 1879.

The 1800 U.S. census for Prince William Parish, Beaufort District, South Carolina, shows James Blount, age 26-45, as a head of family. His wife was aged 26-45 and there were three males under 10 and one male, aged 10 to 16.

James Blount does not appear on the 1810 census.

Children of JAMES BLOUNT and MARTHA SPEARS are:

21. JACOB JEHU⁷ BLOUNT (JAMES⁶, JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)⁹² was born 1786 in Beaufort District, South Carolina, and died Bef. 1860 in Hamilton County, Florida. He married HANNAH RICHARDSON⁹³ Bef. 1825.

Notes for JACOB JEHU BLOUNT:

Jacob Jehu Blount was born in 1786 in Beaufort District, South Carolina. Jacob Blount married Hannah Richardson, born about 1796. The Blount family moved to Florida in 1835 and are shown on the 1840 census of Columbia County, and the 1850 census of Hamilton County. Jacob Blount died prior to 1860, as Hannah Blount, age 64 is shown residing with her son, Hugh B. Blount on the 1860 census of Hamilton County.

Children of JACOB BLOUNT and HANNAH RICHARDSON are:

22. JOHN CHURCHILL GOLDING READDING⁷ BLOUNT (JAMES⁶, JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^95,96,97,98 was born March 12, 1791 in Augusta, Georgia, and died February 22, 1879 in Bartow, Florida. He married (1) ELIZABETH VARN^99,100,101 Abt. 1820 in Beaufort District, South Carolina, daughter of BENJAMIN VARN. He married (2) ELIZABETH MARSH¹⁰² November 2, 1862 in Polk County, Florida. He married (3) LEACY WHIDDEN^{103,104,105,106,107} July 19, 1866 in Polk County, Florida, daughter of JAMES WHIDDEN and MARY ALTMAN.

Notes for JOHN CHURCHILL GOLDING READDING BLOUNT:

Readding (Redding, Reddin, Reading), was born while his parents were living at Augusta, Georgia. During the winter of 1791, they moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, where Readding grew up. In 1812 he returned to Georgia and settled near Savannah, where he was stationed while serving as a soldier in the War of 1812.

In an application for a War of 1812 pension filed in 1871, Readding stated that he "was enrolled as a Minute man in the year ... 1814 and stationed at the Yellow Barracks, Savannah, Ga; was often drilled, Reviewed, ... I think under Colonel Knowles and Gen. Floyd, and was Ordered home when peace was proclaimed, ..." He stated that he was a member of Capt. Butler's company. See Application for War of 1812 Pension, National Archives.

The 1820 and 1830 census for Prince William Parish, Beaufort District, South Carolina, show Readding Blount as a head of family.

In 1835, Readding and his family moved to Columbia County, Florida, where he appears as a voter on October 12, 1835, at Mineral Springs Precinct for a member of the Florida Legislative Council. See Columbia County Election Returns, Record Group 156, Series 21, Florida State Archives.

During the Second Seminole War, Readding served as a private in Capt. James Edwards' mounted company of the 1st Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Florida Militia, from January 27 to June 5, 1837. He later served in Capt. Stewart's Company, 2nd Regiment, Dancy's Florida Militia, Mounted, as a private, enlisting at Lancaster, East Florida, November 29, 1840 and serving until March 6, 1841 when he was mustered out at Lancaster. He reenlisted March 6, 1841 at Lancaster as a private in Capt. Stewart's company, 2nd service, and was mustered out at Alligator, East Florida, April 9, 1841.

Readding and his family can be found on the 1840 census for Columbia County where he is listed as owning three slaves with five persons engaged in agriculture. Tax lists for Columbia County show Readding as owning four slaves and 80 acres in 1845, six slaves and 80 acres in 1847 and the same in 1848. In 1851 he owned five slaves and 160 acres of land. The 1850 census for Columbia County says that he owned five slaves. The 1850 agricultural census for Columbia County reveals that Reading Blount owned 75 acres improved and 85 unimproved. He owned five horses, 23 milch cows, 25 other cattle and 100 head of swine. His farm produced 900 bushels of Indian corn, five bales of ginned cotton (400 lbs. each), 200 bushels of peas and beans, 200 bushels of sweet potatoes, 125 pounds of butter, six tons of hay, 1,000 pounds of cane sugar and 20 gallons of molasses. He was a prosperous farmer.

Readding Blount purchased the NE1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 23, Township 2 South, Range 16 East, consisting of 39.93 acres for $1.25 per acre on March 29, 1841 from the U.S. government. The total price was $49.41. He received a patent on July 10, 1844. On March 23, 1844, he bought the NW1/4 of the SW1/4 and the SW1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 24, Township 2 South, Range 16 East, consisting of 79.86 acres for $99.82. The patent was issued July 10, 1844. See Patent 648, Vol. 1, p. 398; Patent 649, Vol. 1, p. 399, National Archives.

Readding Blount was a Whig and was active in Whig politics in Columbia County. See Jacksonville Florida Republican, July 10, 1851.

In 1908, Benjamin F. Blount, grandson of Readding, wrote the following:

"In October, 1851, my grandfather, Readding Blount, with four sons, viz: Riley R., wife and four children, Owen R., wife and two children, Nathan S., unmarried, and John J., not grown, Streaty Parker, his son-in-law, wife and two children, John Davidson, wife and one child, constituted our colony that came from near the town of Alligator (now known as Lake City) and located about one mile west of the present courthouse in Bartow...."

Readding Blount was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, having joined in Columbia County, in 1841.

Readding Blount, R. R. Blount and Owen R. Blount appear on a list of voters at Peas Creek Precinct No. 8, Hillsborough County, on October 4, 1852 in an election for Governor of Florida. Nathan S. Blount was clerk for the precinct election. See Hillsborough County Election Returns, FSA.

Land entry records in Hillsborough (Polk County) show that Readding obtained land in Section 12, Township 30 South, Range 24 East, the entry dated October 13, 1855.

During the Third Seminole War, Readding Blount served as a private in Capt. Leroy G. Lesley's company, Florida Mounted Volunteers, enlisting January 3, 1856, at Fort Blount, and mustering out August 20, 1856, at Fort Meade. He then enlisted in Capt. F. M. Durrance's company, at Fort Frazier and was discharged December 21, 1856, at Fort Frazier.

In the 1860 census for Hillsborough County, Readding owned 10 slaves. The agricultural census reveals that he had 70 acres of improved land and 90 unimproved. He owned four horses, 40 milch cows, 20 other cattle and 50 head of swine. His farm produced 1600 bushels of Indian corn, 200 bushels of sweet potatoes, 200 pounds of butter, 1,000 pounds of cane sugar and 40 gallons of molasses.

The 1861 Polk County tax roll lists Readding as owner of 11 slaves. In 1863, he owned 12.

Readding Blount was opposed to secession during the years before the Civil War. However, when secession became a fact, and Florida joined the Confederacy, he did all in his power for the success of the Confederate government. Many of the old soldiers remembered Mr. Blount's many kindnesses to their families while they were away at war. Readding's advice to his son, Nathan, who differed with him on the secession issue and was a major in the Confederate army, was: "Son, do your duty faithfully to your country as a soldier."

In the November 1861 election, Readding Blount received 69 votes and was elected a county commissioner for Polk County. He was reelected to two-year terms in 1863 and 1865. See Polk County Election Returns, FSA; Florida Historical Records Survey, Work Projects Administration, Roster of State and County Officers Commissioned by the Governor of Florida 1845-1868 (Jacksonville, FL, 1941), 248.

On November 2, 1862, in Polk County, Readding was married to Elizabeth Marsh.

She was born about 1834 and died February 11, 1866, at Fort Blount. She was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. After her death, Readding married Leacy (Whidden) Collins, widow of Henry M. Collins and daughter of James and Mary (Altman) Whidden, on July 19, 1866. She was born November 4, 1834 in Ware County, Georgia.

Readding Blount's will was dated February 13, 1879 and named Nathan S. Blount as executor. His wife Leacy was given 1/7th of his real and personal estate. The six minor children of his second and third wives received the remaining 6/7th of the estate in equal shares. The remainder went to the five oldest children, all middle-aged people with families of their own.

Readding was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Bartow beside the graves of his first and second wives. The will was probated March 6, 1879. Nathan Blount, the original executor, committed suicide October 20, 1880, so Leacy Blount, who had remarried to Peyton Merritt, was appointed Administrator cum testamento, joined by her new husband. A new inventory and appraisement took place December 10, 1880 and Peyton and Leacy Merritt served as Administrators until March 7, 1882. They served as guardians for the minor children until June 5, 1888. See Estate File of Readding Blount, No. 57, Polk County, Florida.

See Obituary of Readding Blount, Tampa, Sunland Tribune, March 1, 15, 1879; Westergard and VanLandingham, Parker and Blount in Florida, 220-223.

Notes for ELIZABETH VARN:

Elizabeth (Varn ) Blount died October 12, 1861, according to the James N. Blount Floral Album or memory book. Her tombstone in Oak Hill Cemetery at Bartow, Florida, says she died April 18, 1861, aged 66 years.

On September 3, 1854, the Peas Creek Baptist Church was founded. This was a Missionary Baptist group. Elizabeth (Varn) Blount became a member shortly after the church was organized. On January 8, 1855, she "came forward" and stated her intention "to become a member ... as soon as her letter of dismission could be obtained which was unanimously agreed to." Church minutes reveal that following her death in 1861, the Rev. J. M. Hayman preached a funeral for her on January 5, 1862. See Westergard and VanLandingham, Parker and Blount in Florida, 220-223.

Her tombstone at Oak Hill refers to her as "consort of Readding Blount." The term consort was often used on tombstones for wives who predeceased their husbands. Widows often were referred to as "relicts."

More About LEACY WHIDDEN:

Burial: Old Elam Cemetery, Polk County, Florida

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and ELIZABETH VARN are:

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and ELIZABETH MARSH are:

Children of JOHN BLOUNT and LEACY WHIDDEN are:

23. RADFORD⁷ BLOUNT (JAMES⁶, JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)¹¹² died in Savannah, Ga.

Notes for RADFORD BLOUNT:

Radford Blount, died in Savannah. He had one daughter Elizabeth Blount.

Child of RADFORD BLOUNT is:

24. WILLIAM SPEAR JOHN JOINER⁸ BLOUNT (JACOB JEHU⁷, JAMES⁶, JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)¹¹³ was born August 15, 1826 in South Carolina, and died Aft. 1860 in Suwannee County, Fla. He married SIDNEY BRYAN¹¹⁴.

Notes for WILLIAM SPEAR JOHN JOINER BLOUNT:

William Spear John Joiner Blount, born August 16, 1826, Beaufort District, South Carolina. He married five times. William S. J.J. Blount lived in Hamilton County, Florida, according to the 1860 census. Later he lived in Suwannee County, Florida. He married 2nd Sidney Bryan, Born about 1820 and had four children.

Children of WILLIAM BLOUNT and SIDNEY BRYAN are:

25. RILEY READDING⁸ BLOUNT (JOHN CHURCHILL GOLDING READDING⁷, JAMES⁶, JACOB⁵, JOHN⁴, THOMAS³, THOMAS², JAMES¹)^{115,116,117,118} was born February 14, 1824 in Beaufort District, South Carolina, and died October 9, 1887 in Hillsborough County, Florida. He married (1) JANE VARN^{119,120,121,122,123} October 24, 1844 in Hamilton County, Florida, daughter of FREDERICK VARN and SARAH HIERS. He married (2) EMMA L WHIDDEN¹²⁴ March 10, 1879 in Polk County, Florida, daughter of JAMES WHIDDEN and AMELIA HALL.

Notes for RILEY READDING BLOUNT:

Riley Readding Blount was born February 14, 1824, in Beaufort District, S.C. a son of John Churchill Golding Readding Blount and Elizabeth Varn. He moved with his parents to Columbia County, Fla. in 1835. He served as a private in the company of Captain Robert Brown, 2nd Regiment East Florida Mounted Volunteers during the Second Seminole War. He enlisted June 16, 1837 at Ft. Lancaster and was mustered out December 18, 1837, at Ft. Gilliland, Fla. He joined Captain North's Company as a private, July 13, 1838, until he was mustered out Jan. 12, 1839, at Ft. Gilmer, Ga. He applied for bounty land based on these services on November 20, 1850, and received 160 acres on Warrant #21,412. Riley married Jane (Varn) Knight on October 24, 1844 in Hamilton Co, Fla. She was the daughter of Frederick and Sarah Varn and widow of Aaron Knight. Jane was born February 2, 1824, in South Carolina. Riley Blount and his family moved to Hillsborough County (now Polk) near the present Bartow. He purchased Bounty Warrant #16,183 for 160 acres which had been originally issued to Stephen Hull for Indian War service. Later Riley received a grant which included 160 acres on August 1, 1859. At the time of the Third Seminole War, Riley enlisted as a private in Captain L. G. Lesley's company, Florida Mounted Volunteers, August 20, 1856, at Ft. Meade and was mustered out February 19, 1857, at Ft. Brooke. At the time of the war Riley's home place was chosen for the site of construction of a log blockhouse to protect the neighboring families and was known as Fort Blount. After the close of the Third Seminole War in 1858, he moved his family to another location farther south where he also constructed at his own expense a log cabin building for use as a school and church. It was used until 1867. Riley Blount operated a general supply store bringing his supplies from Tampa, a distance of 45 miles. He was a planter and in the first tax list of Polk county in 1861, owned 320 acres of land and 5 slaves. He served as one of three men chosen as Road Commissioners for District 3 on June 18, 1861. Jane (Varn) Knight Blount died November 15, 1878 at Bartow, Florida. She is buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery at Bartow. Riley Blount married Emma L. Whidden, a daughter of James Lawrence and Amelia (Hall) Whidden on March 10, 1879. She was born about 1862 in Polk County, Florida. Riley Blount later had an orange grove and also purchased the Orange Grove Hotel in Bartow 1882.. He operated a mule driven hack line between Bartow and Tampa as stated in the Jan. 6, 1883 of the Bartow Informant. Riley traded the hotel to Mrs. Mattie Bunch for five acres of land at Orient, lying six miles east of Tampa. He was living there in May 1885. He was living in Hillsborough County when he died in 1887. Riley Blount was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery at Bartow, Florida.

More About RILEY READDING BLOUNT:

Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery, Bartow, Florida

Children of RILEY BLOUNT and JANE VARN are: