Henry Blunt (abt. 1815 - bef. 1850)

Born about 1815 in Muskingum, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Lavina (Morgan) Blunt — married 12 Apr 1833 in Vermillion County, Illinois

Descendants

Died before 1850 before about age 35 in Illinois, United States [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Samee Lee [send private message]

Biography

1812 Birth
Henry Blunt was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, one of 12 children born to Roxena Cass and Charles Blunt. ^[1][2][3] Henry's birth is estimated somewhere in between that of his brother John on 3 May 1812 and the birth of his sister Nancy in 1816 or 1819 (based on the census).

Move from Ohio to Illinois
Charles and Roxena Blunt, with Henry and his siblings, moved from Muskingum County, Ohio to Vermilion County, Illinois in about 1830.^[4]Brother Thomas was born in Illinois in about 1834.

1832-1833 US Army
Henry Blunt, 17, born in Muskingum, Ohio, enlisted as a Private on 28 July 1832 with Capt. Brown in Danville; discharged at expiration of service 22 July 1833 in Dodgeville. ^[5]

1833 Marriage
Lavina Morgan and Henry Blunt married 12 April 1833 in Vermilion County, Illinois, prior to his discharge from the military.^[3]

Their daughter, Sarah (Blunt) Montgomery, was born 3 January 1834. She was named in her grandmother Roxenna Blunt's 1863 will. ^[1]

His sister Cynthia's obituary says, "Three of her brothers, who were in the Black Hawk war, on their return to their father's home, gave glowing descriptions of the beauties and resources of the prairies of southern Wisconsin and persuaded the father to remove to this region..."^[6][7][8]

In about 1835, Roxena and Charles Blunt and many of the citizens of Vermilion County sold out their farms and settled near Patch Grove in the (soon-to-be) Grant County, Wisconsin Territory. ^[4] It does not appear that Henry went with them because he is not on the 1840 census in Wisconsin and there are no property transactions in his name.

The next thing we know is that his wife and daughter were in Monongalia County, Virginia, living with her father, James Morgan in 1850. ^[9]

1859 Will of father Charles
Each of Charles Blunt's children received $1, however, they are not named individually in the document so it is unknown if Henry was alive at this time.^[2]

1863 Death of mother Roxena
Roxena Blunt died 13 April 1863. She named her 12 children in her will, including her two deceased children, Henry and Sarah (Blunt) Butler. ^[1]

An excerpt from a document in Roxena Blunt's probate papers says

"Squire Montgomery and Sarah A Montgomery, formerly Sarah A Blunt, daughter of Henry Blunt, her father and Lavina Blunt her mother, and subsequently Sarah A Hess, but now the said Sarah A Montgomery, present wife of the said Squire Montgomery...said Sarah A Montgmery, as daughter, heir, legatee, devisee, of the said Henry Blunt, her father aforesaid, late of the state of Illinois but now deceased..." ^[1]

Because his wife Lavina and daughter Sarah moved to Virginia before the 1850 census, it is believed that Henry died before then.^[9]If not then, certainly before 1863 when his mother's will reported him as deceased. ^[1]

Research Notes

Re: Blunt/Blount
The majority of sources for Henry's entire family spells their surname "Blunt." The publication about his wife's family, "Descendents of Col Morgan Morgan," spells the name "Blount" and that variation continued after Lavina and daughter Sarah moved to Oregon. ^[10]

Re: Was there another Henry Blunt in Illinois?
The following sources are saved here for reference until it is determined whether or not this is our Henry or another person of the same name.

History of Vermillion County, Illinois
Is this our Henry Blunt?

EARLY SCHOOLS.

The first school in Danville was taught in Haworth's smokehouse, a little structure ten or twelve feet square. It was made of logs, without a floor, and its only openings were the door and a square hole cut at the opposite side for light and ventilation...The temporary first school-house was burned up. A Mr. Henry Blunt had collected some two hundred venison hams and stored them in Haworth's smokehouse, where he was smoking and drying them, intending to ship them to New Orleans by flat-boat. Some of the mischievous men about the town (and thev were all alike in that respect, and did not stop at carrying with a high hand if any fun was to be had out of the undertaking) amused Blunt at a neighboring grocery one evening, while their confederates fired the building. The alarm was not given until the blaze was fairly under way, when Blunt and those keeping his company hurried over, too late to save the property. Blunt supposed, of course, that the fire was accidental, and had caught from the smudge with which he was curing his meat. Although his anticipated speculation was spoiled, yet venison half roasted or otherwise was quite cheap in Danville. The market was fairly glutted with it..." ^[11]

1840 US Census
Gallatin, Kentucky^[12]

Name: Henry Blount

Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29: 1[Henry?]

Free White Persons - Females - Under 5: 1 [Sarah?]

Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29: 1 [Lavina?]

Persons Employed in Navigation of Canals, Lakes, Rivers: 1

Free White Persons - Under 20: 1

Free White Persons - 20 thru 49: 2

Total Free White Persons: 3

Total All Perss - Free White, Free Colored, Slaves: 3

The ages and number of people in the household is about right.

1841-1851 Illinois Public Land Purchase Records ^[13]

Name: Henry Blunt; Section: NWSE; Price per Acre: 1.25; Total Price: 50.00

Date: 15 Jun 1841; Volume: 070; Page: 067; Type: FD; Sect: 03; Township:

14N; Range: 03W; Meridian: 3; Acres: 40.00; Corr-Tag: 0; ID: 056963;

Reside: 011

Name: Henry Blount; Section: SWSE; Price per Acre: 1.25; Total Price: 50.00;

Date: 11 Dec 1847; Volume: 070; Page: 107; Type: FD; Sect: 03; Township;

14N; Range: 03W; Meridian: 3; Acres: 40.00; Corr-Tag: 0; ID: 056958;

Reside: 011

Name: Henry Blount; Section: NESE; Price per Acre: 1.25; Total Price: 50.00;

Date: 31 Mar 1851; Volume: 070; Page: 149; Type: FD; Sect: 03; Township

14N; Range: 03W; Meridian: 3; Acres: 40.00; Corr-Tag: 0; ID: 056957;

Reside: 011

The above information is all that is provided online. A look at the original records is needed to clarify details, when, and where the transactions actually took place.

Re: Merge of Henry Blount (adopted profile) and Henry Blunt
Citations and sources from Henry Blount profile:

↑ Prickett Fence, vol. 5, iss. 2, p. 25.

↑ Miller, Kimberlee, comp. Descendants of Capt. Jacob Prickett, Sr. (Fairmont, WV: Jacob's Meadow, Updated and printed 24 June 1999).

↑ Yob is guesstimate based on wife's yob. (PPH, 23 June 2019))

Acknowledgments

Patricia Hickin imported the data for Henry Blount (-1850) from P_SPRINGER-Dennis b 1712 desc 20170222.ged on 26 Feb 2017

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} 1863; Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2015. Original data: Wisconsin County, District and Probate Courts. [1]
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Author: Wisconsin. Circuit Court (Grant County); Probate Place: Grant, Wisconsin Source Information: Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2015. [Charles Blunt; Probate Place: Grant, Wisconsin, USA Inferred Death Place: Wisconsin, USA]
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Illinois Marriages, 1815-1935", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HSZD-69ZM : 14 February 2020), Henry Blunt, 1833.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Jones, Lottie E., "History of Vermilion County, Illinois: A Tale of Its Evolution, Settlement, and Progress for Nearly a Century, Volume 1", Pioneer Publishing Company, 1911 - Vermilion County (Ill.), pp 118, 162. [2]
5. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. [3]
6. ↑ The Weekly Teller; Publication Date: 19 Dec 1889; Publication Place: Lancaster, Wisconsin, USA; Dec. 19, 1889, Thursday, page 1 URL: [4]
7. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Black Hawk War," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed February 26, 2024).
8. ↑ Henry Blunt is not on database of Illinois Black Hawk War Veterans, Illinois State Archives, Office of Illinois Sec. of State. https://apps.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/blackhawksrch.jsp
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8D6-N59 : 23 December 2020), Lavina Blunt in household of James Morgan, Monongalia, Virginia, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
10. ↑ Morgan, French, "Descendents of Col Morgan Morgan", 1950, Washington, D.C. pages 301-309; This "Covered Wagon" story posted on ancestry.com. 4 Feb 2012 by Tom Wilcox [5]
11. ↑ Beckwith, H. W. (Hiram Williams), . History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources Publication 1879, page 332 [6]
12. ↑ Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. [7]
13. ↑ NO IMAGE State of Illinois. Illinois, U.S., Public Land Purchase Records, 1813-1909 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.