Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3101relations of life, and though he is a representative of families that have inpast generations been foremost in wealth and influence in this favored sectionof the Empire State of the South, yet Mr. Blount has not depended uponancestral prestige or fortuitous circumstances in making his way forward tothe goal of large and substantial prosperity, for he has been significantlythe master of expedients and the artificer of his own fortune. He standstoday as one of the leading merchants and planters of Ms native county,where his capitalistic interests are large and varied, and no further voucherfor the estimate placed upon him by his fellow men is needed than thestatement that he has served consecutively since 1899 as treasurer of BurkeCounty.John Alien Blount was born in Burke County on the 20th of November,1866, and is a son of Edwin F. and Margaret (Alien) Blount, who passed theirentire lives in this county where the respective families were founded in theearly pioneer era, Mr. Blount himself being a scion of the fourth generationof the Blount family in Burke County, and the representatives in the various'generations having been notable for sterling character and large and usefulachievement. Edwin F. Blount was a son of Stephen W. and Axeline Blount,and his father, who died prior to the Civil war, was one of the extensiveplanters and large slaveholders of this county, besides which he wieldedmuch influence in community affairs and as a stalwart exponent and supporter of the principles of the democratic party.Though his important private business affairs made large demands uponhis time and attention Stephen W. Blount was ready to accord his quota ofpublic service and held for several terms the office of sheriff of the county.John P. Alien, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, likewise passed his entire life in Burke County, where he owned and operated,with the aid of an appreciable retinue of slaves, a large and valuable plantation. He was a first cousin of Rev. Young J. Alien, who served with distinction as United States Minister to China.Edwin F. Blount was born on the old homestead plantation in BurkeCounty, in the year 1836, and here he continued to reside until his death,in 1902, at the age of sixty-six years. During the climacteric period of theCivil war he made a splendid record as a loyal and gallant soldier of theConfederacy, his service being as a private in the famous Cobb's Legion, acommand that is specially honored in the history of the Confederacy and inthe annals of Georgia. After the war, in which he took part in many engagements and was finally captured, Mr. Blount returned to his home, and hecontinued to be known as one of the representative planters and leading citizens of Burke County until the time of his death. His life was guided andgoverned by the highest principles and to him was justly given the tribute ofunqualified popular approbation and esteem. He was unwavering in his support of the cause "of the democratic party and both he and his wife wereearnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His widowsurvived him by more than a decade and was summoned to.eternal rest in1913, at the venerable age of seventy-two years. Of their five children, theeldest is Anna, who is the wife of Thomas Ponder, a substantial planter ofBurke County; Eva, who maintains her home at Waynesboro, is the widowof Charles Kilpatrick; John A., of this review, was the next in order ofbirth; Stephen W. and Simeon A. reside at Waynesboro and are prominentcitizens of their native county.John A. Blount received a good common school education and at the ageof eighteen years he assumed the position of bookkeeper in the mercantileestablishment of J. H. McKinsey, of Waynesboro, with whom he remainedfive years. He then became bookkeeper and general office executive for thefirm of Wilkin, Ely & Jones, and four years later he resigned, to accept thedual office of secretary and treasurer of the R. C. Neeley Company, whichVol. VI—21