Ainsworth Blunt (February 22, 1800 – December 10, 1865) was an American missionary to the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

at the

Brainerd Mission The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History Br ...

and the first mayor of

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the ci ...

. Ainsworth Emery Blunt was born on February 22, 1800, in

Amherst, New Hampshire Amherst is a town in Hillsborough County in the state of New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,753 at the 2020 census. Amherst is home to Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, Hodgman State Forest, the Joe English Reservation and Baboosi ...

( Hillsborough County) to John Isaac (1756-1836) and Sarah (Eames) Blunt (1765-1858). He was baptized in the Amherst

Congregationalist Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

on March 9, 1800. He married Harriet Ellsworth (25 September 1790 – 10 June 1847) on 17 November 1822. They had five children: Martha (21 December 1825 – 23 June 1898), John (25 December 1828-), Sarah, Harriet (12 October 1823 – 3 December 1825), and Ainsworth, Jr. (6 February 1832 – 1911). On 31 March 1822, Blunt embarked from Boston, Massachusetts, to Savannah, Georgia, en route to the

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

station at Brainerd in the

Nation where he served as a farmer and mechanic. After arrival he met his future wife, Harriet, who had come to the mission station with her brother, John Clark Ellsworth, on 24 November 1821. Because of the ill health of his wife, he and his family left Brainerd on 26 August 1837 and moved to the Candy Creek mission which was located in present-day

Bradley County, Tennessee Bradley County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,620, making it the thirteenth most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Cleveland. It is na ...

. After the closure of the mission, he accompanied the

on the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

in 1838, but returned to Chattanooga, Tennessee, after becoming ill. He acquired the Brainerd Mission property after the removal of the Cherokee in order to protect the mission cemetery. In 1843, he and his family relocated to Cross Plains, Georgia and he was elected the first mayor of

when the town was incorporated in 1847. Blunt's second marriage was to Elizabeth Christian Ramsey (1816-1899) in 1849. They had one child, Eliza "Lillie" Ramsey Blunt (4 September 1851 – 1937). Blunt refugeed to Illinois in 1864. During his leave, his home was used as a Union hospital. The Blunt house was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1981 and it is currently owned by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. Blunt died on December 10, 1865.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunt, Ainsworth 1800 births 1865 deaths American Congregationalist missionaries Congregationalist missionaries in the United States