Caveat:  I'm told by Kyle VanLandingham, a current Blount researcher, that Wheeler is incorrect in his assertions that Capt. James Blount descended from the Sodington Blounts and that Capt. James Blount and Capt. Thomas Blount were brothers.  Evidence is that Capt. Thomas is the son of Capt. James, not his brother, and that Capt. James descended from the Astley Blounts, not the Sodington Blounts.

Wherever Wheeler is in disagreement with later researchers — and the instances are many — it is probably Wheeler who is wrong.

The late Gov. Henry T. Clark considered this the oldest of North Carolina families.  No family, he believed, whose name is still extant as a family-name in North Carolina, came into the Province so early as James Blount, who settled in Chowan in 1669.  This James Blount is said to have been a younger son of Sir Walter Blount of Sodington, Worcestershire, England, and a Captain in Charles I's Life Guards.  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.

For convenience, the family may be divided into two branches: the descendants of James, the Chowan Blounts, and the descendants of his younger brother who settled about Chocowinity in Beaufort County, the Taw River Blounts.  The latter is much the more numerous branch of the family and has become too extensively spread throughout the Southern and South-Western States to be fully traced here.  This brief genealogy is complied (sic) chiefly from the family Bible of the Edenton family of Blounts and from a Manuscript by the late Thomas H. Blount of Beaufort and is as accurate as such accounts can ordinarily be made.

James Blount, who settled in Chowan in 1669, on a tract of land which remained in the possession of his descendants until the death of Clement Hall Blount in 1842, was a man of some prominence in his day.  He is spoken of in contemporary documents as a member of the Governor's Coucil, as one of the Burgesses of Chowan, and as a leading character in the infant and very disorderly Colony.  He left one son, John.

This John Blount (I) born 1669; died 1725, left ten children, six daughters and four sons.  Three of the daughters married and left descendants in Hyde County and about Roanoke Island.  They are the Worleys, Midgets and Manns. The sons were--

I. John (II) born 1706, married and left three sons and two daughters:

     (a) James Blount, who married Ann Hall and and (sic) left three children:  Clement Hall Blount (died unmarried in 1842); Sarah, left no issue; and Frederick Blount, his eldest son who married Rachel Bryan, (nee Herritage) and left among others, Frederick S. Blount, who moved to Alabama and became the father of a large family, Alexander Clement Blount, and Herritage Wistar Blount of Lenoir County.

     (b) Wilson Blount.

     (c) Fredrick Blount, whose daughter Mary (died 1856) married Wm. SHEPARD of New Berne and bore him Wm. B., Charles B., and James B. SHEPARD, Mrs. John H. BRYAN, of Raleigh, Mrs. Ebenezer PETTIGREW, and several others.

     (d) Elizabeth, married J.B. BEASLEY.

     (e) Mary married Rev. Charles PETTIGREW 1st Bishop (elect) of N.C. and left two sons, one of whom, Ebenezer became a member of Congress; married Ann SHEPARD of New Berne, and left several children:  the Rev. William S. PETTIGREW, General James Johnson PETTIGREW, Charles L. PETTIGREW, and two daughters.

II. Thomas born 1709, left one daughter Winifred, who married Hon. Whitmel HILL of Martin.  Among their numerous descendants are Thomas Blount HILL Esq. of Hillsboro and the family of the late Whitmel J. HILL of Scotland Neck.

III. James, born 1710, left two daughters:  (a) Nancy married Dempsey CONNOR (son of Dempsey CONNOR and Mary PENDLETON, great-granddaughter of Governor ARCHDALE) and left one daughter Frances Clark Pollock CONNOR, married 1st, Joseph Blount (III) and 2nd, Wm. HILL, late Secretary of State of North Carolina; and (b) Betsy who was married to Jeremiah VAIL.

IV. Joseph (I) born 1715, died 1777, who married 1st, Sarah DURANT, born 1718, died 1751, (a descendant of George DURANT, the first known English settler in N.C.) and left only one child Sarah, (born 1747, died 1807,) who married in 1771, William LITTLEJOHN, by whom she became the mother of a large family, well known in this and other Southern States.  After the death of his first wife, Joseph Blount (I) married (1752) Elizabeth SCARBORO, by whom he had (besides one son, Lemuel Edwards, drowned at sea in 1778) one son:

     Joseph Blount (II) born 1755, died 1794, who married 1st, (1775) Lydia BONNER, and left two children:

     (a) John Bonner Blount, born 1777, married Mary MUTTER: they were the parents of Thomas M. Blount, late of Washington City (whose son, Maj. Thomas M. Blount was killed at Malvern Hill), of Mrs. Thomas H. Blount, Mrs. Henry HOYT and Mrs. James TREADWELL of Washington N.C. and of Mrs. Henry M. DANIEL, of Tenn.  His sons Joseph and John died without issue.

     (b) Mary, born 1779, married William T. MUSE and had two sons, (1) William T. MUSE, late of the U.S. and C.S. Navy, who married and left issue; (2) John B. MUSE, died unmarried.

     For a second wife Joseph Blount (II) is 1782, married Ann GRAY (born 1757, died 1814,) daughter of Wm. GRAY of Bertie, and left issue.

     (c) Joseph Blount (III) born 1785, died 1822, who married (1808) Frances Clark Pollock CONNOR and left one son Joseph Blount (IV) who died unmarried.

     (d) Frances Lee married Henderson STANDIN, left one son, William H. STANDIN.

     (e) Sarah Elizabeth married Thomas MORGAN but left no issue.

     (f) Elizabeth Ann, (born 1790, died 1869,) married in (1812) John CHESHIRE (born 1769, died 1830,) and left issue the Rev. Joseph Blount CHESHIRE, D.D., Mrs. E.D. MACNAIR, of Tawboro, and Mrs. James WEBB of Hillsboro.

     (g) Eleanor Gray, married John COX, left one daughter, Ann B.P., married Willie J. EPPS of Halifax.

A younger brother of James Blount of Chowan is thought to have settled on Taw or Pamplico River about 1673.  He left six sons Thomas, John, James, Benjamin, Jacob and Esau, the last two being twins.  The Tuscarora Chief, King Blount, a valuable ally of the whites in the Indian war of 1711, is said to have assumed that name from his attachment to one of these brothers.  Nothing is known definitely of the descendants of any of the six, except the eldest, Thomas.

This Thomas Blount married Ann READING and left four sons, Reading, James, John and Jacob.  All of these left families, and from them are descended, no doubt, many persons of the name in Beaufort and the adjacent Counties; but we can trace the descendants of the last named only.

Jacob Blount (born 1726, died 1789) was an officer under Gov. Tryon in the battle of Alamance; a member of the Assembly frequently, and of the Halifax Congress of 1776; married 1st, (1748) Barbara GRAY, of Bertie, sister to William GRAY, mentioned in the genealogy of the Chowan Blounts; 2nd, Mrs. Hannah BAKER (nee SALTER); 3rd, Mrs. Mary ADAMS.  By his last wife he had no children; by his wife, Barbara GRAY, he left among others--

     I. William Blount, born 1749, died 1800.
    II. John Gray Blount, born 1752, died 1833.
   III. Reading Blount, born 1757, died 1807.
    IV. Thomas Blount, born 1759, died 1812.
     V. Jacob Blount, born 1760 died ----.

     By his wife, Hannah SALTER, he left:
    VI. Willie Blount, born 1768, died 1835.
   VII. Sharp Blount, born 1771, died 1810.

Of these William, John Gray, Reading, Thomas and Willie became prominent and distinguished men; among the most eminent in North Carolina and Tennessee for their high talents, public spirit, enterprise and wealth.  Their marriages and descendants were as follows:

     I. William Blount, (born 1749, died 1800), a Member of Congress in 1782 and 1786; of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, was defeated for the U.S. Senate by Benjamin Hawkins, on the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789; appointed by Washington in 1790 Governor of the Territory south of the Ohio; removed to Tennessee and founded the city of Knoxville; was chosen one of the first Senators from Tennessee.  In 1797, he was expelled by a vote of the Senate, and subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives, for alleged treasonable practices in endeavoring to incite the Indian tribes on our South-western frontier to hostilities against Spain.  The articles of impeachment were after argument quashed in the Senate.  On his return to Knoxville the Speaker of the State Senate resigned, and William BLOUNT was unanimously chosen by the people to succeed him in the Senate, and by that body to succeed him in the Chair, as an expression of popular confidence and affection.  His death early in the year 1800, alone prevented him from being elected Governor of Tennessee.  He married (1778) Mary GRAINGER, daughter of Col. Caleb GRAINGER, of Wilmington, and left issue:

     1. Ann married 1st, Henry I. TOOLE (II) of Edgecombe, to whom she bore Henry I. TOOLE (III), and Mary Eliza, married Dr. Joseph LAWRENCE: she married 2nd, Weeks HADLEY, of Edgecombe, by whom she had several children.

     2. Mary Louisa, married (1801) Pleasant M. MILLER and left a large family; one of her daughters, Barbara, married Hon. Wm. H. STEPHENS, late of Memphis, now of Los Angelos (sic), California.

     3. William Grainger Blount, member of Congress from Tennessee; he died unmarried in 1827.

     4. Richard Blackledge Blount, married and left children in Tennessee.

     5. Barbara married Gen. E.P. GAINES, left on son, Edmund GAINES of Washington city, D.C.

     6. Eliza married Dr. Edwin WIATT and left two sons and one daughter.

II. John Gray Blount (I), born 1752, died 1833, in his youth a companion of Daniel BOONE in the early explorations of Kentucky, but settled permanently in Washington, N.C.  He was frequently a member of the Assembly, and though not ambitious of political office, probably the most influential man in his section of the State.  He is said to have been the largest land-owner in North Carolina.  He married (1778), Mary HARVEY, daughter of Col. Miles HARVEY of Perquimans, and left issue:

     1. Thomas Harvey Blount, (born 1781, died 1850,) who married 1st (1810) Ellen BROWN, by whom he had no children, 2nd, (1827) Elizabeth M. daughter of Jno. Bonner Blount, of Edenton, and left issue, three sons and three daughters:  Elizabeth M. (GEER), Polly Ann (HATTON), John Gray Blount (III), Mary Bonner (WILLARD), Thomas Harvey Blount, and Dr. Wm. Augustus Blount.

     2. John Gray Blount (II), born 1785, died 1828, married Sally HAYWOOD but left no issue.

     3. Polly Ann, (born 1787, died 1821,) married Wm. RODMAN and left issue:  William Blount RODMAN, late a Judge of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, Mary Marcia Blount, and Mary Olivia Blount who married J.G.B. MYERS.

     4. William August Blount, married 1st Nancy HAYWOOD and 2nd Nancy LITTLEJOHN: For him and his family see "The Blounts of Beaufort"

     5. Lucy Olivia (born 1799, died 1854,) married Bryan GRIMES and left issue: Mary, Annie, Olivia, and John Gray Blount GRIMES.

     6. Patsy Baker, born 1802, still living unmarried.

III. Reading Blount, (born 1757, died 1807,) a Major in the Revolutionary War; married Lucy HARVEY, daughter of Col. Miles HARVEY, and left five children:

     1. Polly who married John MYERS and left a large family in Washington, N.C.

     2. Louisa, married Jos. W. WORTHINGTON, of Maryland.

     3. Willie Blount, married Delia BLAKEMORE of Tennessee.

     4. Caroline Jones, married Benjamin RUNYAN.

     5. Reading Blount, married Polly Ann CLARK, and left one son, Reading Blount.

IV. Thomas Blount (born 1759, died 1812), an officer of distinction in the Revolution, Major in Col. Buncombe's Regiment. Settled at Tawboro; was frequently a member of the Assembly from Edgecombe; a member of Congress for several sessions, and died in Washington City in 1812.  He married 1st Patsy BAKER; 2nd Jacky SUMNER (afterwards known as Mrs. Mary Sumner Blount) daughter of Gen. Jethro SUMNER of Warren.  He had no children by either marriage.

V. Jacob Blount, (born 1760, died ----,) married 1st (1789) Ann COLLINS, daughter of Josiah COLLINS of Edenton, by whom he had two daughters, (a) Ann; and (b) Elizabeth, who married Jno. W. LITTLEJOHN, of Edenton.  He afterwards married Mrs. Augustus HARVEY; but had no children by the second marriage.

VI. Willie Blount (born 1768: died 1835); went to Tennessee in 1790 as private Secretary to his eldest brother Gov. William BLOUNT; was elected Judge of the Supreme Court in 1796; Governor from 1809 to 1815.  He raised on his private credit the money with which to equip the three Tennessee regiments sent under Andrew Jackson to the defense of New Orleans during the war of 1812.  In recognition of his eminent public services, the State of Tennessee in 1877 erected a monument to his memory in Clarksville, Tennessee.  He married Lucinda BAKER, and left two daughers, Mrs. DABNEY and Mrs. DORTCH, of Tennessee.  For his second wife he married the widow of Judge Hugh Lawson WHITE.

VII. Sharp Blount (born 1771; died 1810,) married Penelope LITTLE, daughter of Col. George LITTLE of Hertford, and left three sons: (a) William Little Blount, (b) Jacob Blount, (c) George Little Blount.  The first two died without issue.  George Little Blount married a Miss CANNON of Pitt, and resided at Blount Hall in Pitt County, the seat of his grandfather Jacob Blount.

It has been impossible to give more than a summary of the genealogy of this extensive family.  It is hoped that the above is sufficient to enable any one to trace the connections of its principal branches.

It may be added that William and Willie Blount were both, in all probability, born at Blount Hall in Pitt County, and not in Bertie, as is sometimes stated and as is inscribed on the monument erected by the State of Tennessee to the memory of the latter.  There is no reason to suppose that their father, Jacob Blount, ever lived in Bertie.  Also the story of the absurd inscription on the stone on Mrs. Mary Sumner Blount's grave in Tawboro is entirely untrue.

The Blount family in North Carolina has been distinguished for more than a century for integrity, enterprise, intelligence and patriotism.

According to a genealogical table prepared by the late Governor CLARK, this family was of English origin and figured in the reigns of Charles I. (1625,) and Charles II. (1660.)  The head of the family was created a Baronet in 1642, as Sir Walter Blount.

He left four sons and four daughters, the younger sons sought their fortunes in America.  From them, this family can be clearly traced in distinct lines to the present.

From Sir Walter Blount descended:

I. James; came to North Carolina about 1664 and settled in Craven.

He was a member of the House of Burgesses and was active in the Culpepper rebellion, which, for a time, held and controlled the province.

From the Rolls Office, in London, I copy a paper directed to the Lords Proprietor, "concerning the rebellion in Carolina, from 1663 to 1687."

"The rebellion was a deliberate contrivance, subverting the government, dissolving the parliaments, imprisoning the lordship's deputies, putting the president of the country in jail, seizing and carrying away the records, assuming supreme power, convening assemblies, and last of all, a most horrid and treasonable action, erecting courts to try cases of life and death without authority.

"Captain Valentine Bird, collector, exported 150,000 pounds of tobacco without paying any dues.  On hearing that Eastchurst was coming as governor, and Miller as collector, he took up arms with the rest of the subscribers and opposed Miller on his first landing, and drew his sword.

"George Durant contemned and opposed the governor with a rebel rout.

"Captain James Blount, one of the deputy's assistants, is one of the chief among the insurrectors.  I wrote to him and the other burgesses of Chowan precinct.  When the sheriff came, he, with one Captain John Vernham, took the sheriff prisoner, and raised forces to oppose the governor." [Footnote: Colonial Documents, London, 15.]

II. Thomas; he had five sons. 1st, Thomas, who had five sons: (a) Thomas, who married Elizabeth Reading, distinguished in the Indian wars 1708; (b) James; (c) John; (d) Jacob and (e) Esau, twins. [Footnote: See Williamson's, North Carolina, I, 202.]

III. Thomas (son of Thomas who married Elizabeth Reading,) had four sons: (a) Reading, (b) James, Captain in Second Continental regiment; (c) John; (d) Jacob.

IV. Jacob, son of Thomas, was at battle of Alamance, 1771; a member of the provincial congress, and an officer in the revolutionary war.  He married first Barbara Gray, second Mrs. Salter, was the progenitor of the family, had ten children, viz:

     I. William, who was born in Craven County, in 1749, married Miss Granger, of Wilmington.  Elected member of legislature 1783-'84; of the continental congress, 1782-'83-'86-'87; in the convention which formed Constitution of the United States, in 1787; appointed governor of territories of United States west of Ohio,1790; senator in congress from Tennessee, 1796; expelled from senate in 1797; member of the convention that formed state constitution of Tennessee.  Died in Knoxville, 1810.  He left one son, William Granger, who was in congress from Tennessee, 1815 to 1819, and who died in 1827, unmarried; and one daughter who was the first wife of General E.P. Gaines. [Footnote: MSS. letter of Honorable Case Johnson.]

    II. Ann, daughter of Jacob, married Henry.

   III. John Gray Blount, son of Jacob, was born 1752.  Married Mary Harvey; he was often member of the legislature, from 1782 to 1796, from Beaufort County.  He was an extensive land owner and explorer.  Often the companion of Daniel Boone.  He died in January, 1833, leaving six children, viz: (a) Thomas Harvey, son of John Gray; (b) John Gray, in war of 1812; (c) William Augustus, (for sketch of whom see [Beaufort County post]), who died in 1867, leaving a son William, and a daughter who is the widow of General L.O'B. Branch, resides in Raleigh; (d) Polly, who married Rodman; (e) Lucy, who married General Grimes; (f) Patsy Baker, (unmarried.)

    IV. Louisa, who married to Richard Blackledge.

     V. Reading, who married Lucy Harvey.

    VI. Thomas, born 1759, died 1807, was in the revolutionary war, sent to England a prisoner.  He was a member of the legislature from Edgecombe, 1798-'99, and a member of congress in 1793 to 1799, 1805 to 1809, and 1811, and 1812.  He died at Washington, (without issue) leaving a widow, the daughter of General Jethro Sumner, named Mary Sumner Blount who died near Tarboro in 1822, made liberal bequests to Christ church in Raleigh, from which chiefly funds were realized to build the beautiful stone edifice in that city.  When the will was drawn, fearing that relgious bodies could not hold real estate against the claims of heirs at law, a provision was inserted that in case of a contest over the devises intended for Christ church, of Raleigh, those devises should vest in Judge Cameron and Dr. Hooper in fee, to be disposed of as their consciences might dictate.  The marble slab marking her grave had been broken by the fall of a tree, or as some say, by a stroke of lightning, and the vestry of Christ's church, of Raleigh, determined to replace it, but these praise worthy intentions were frustrated by the inexcusable carlessnes (sic) in the preparation of the original epithaph.  It is verbatim as follows:

     "Sacred to the memory of
     MARY SUMNER BLOUNT
     relict of genl thomas blount
     long a representative in Congre
     ss from this district
     and daughter of genl. jethro blount.
     Died the 18th Dec 1822 in her 45th year."

Mrs. Blount's father was General Jethro Sumner, not "Blount."  It must have been a difficult task to compress so many errors in so small a space.

   VII. Jacob; born 1760; married COLLINS.

  VIII. Barbara, born 1763.

    IX. Willie, son of Jacob, born 1768, secretary to his brother William, while governor of territory west of the Ohio. Judge of the supreme court of Tennessee when only twenty-two yers old, and the Governor of Tennesse (sic) from 1809 to 1815, (see Bertie County.) As governor he tendered to the United States 2,500 volunteers in the war of 1812. He died near Nashville, 1835, leaving two daughters; one married Dr. J.T. DABNEY, and another to DORTCH.

     X. Sharp, who married Penelope LITTLE, of Pitt County, who left two sons, William LITTLE and George LITTLE.

I have thus endeavored to present a genealogical diagram of a family whose members have been distinguished in the field, on the forum, and in legislative halls, as well as in social life.

The table may be relied upon, as it has been the subject of much labor and research. Their lives and offices have been briefly alluded to, figures and dates given, leaving to other hands the pious duty of commenting in detail of their character and services.