Biographical Album of Tennessee Governors [William Blount-1790-1796] / J. S. Jones : a machine-readable transcription of an image
Jones, J. S.
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The Biographical Album of Tennessee Governors, dated 1904, contains 31 plates, each featuring a Tennessee Governor's photo on the front and biographical information on the back. This plate features William Blount, Tennessee's first Territorial Governor.
William Blount , the first and only Territorial Governor of Tennessee , was born 1749, of English ancestry, in Bertie County, North Carolina , and died March 21st, 1800; buried at Knoxville . He was a member of the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1775- 6; was a member of the first Continental Congress, 1783- 4, and also of the last, 1786- 7, and was one of the signers of the Constitution. 1790 he was appointed by President Washington , Governor of "Territory of the United States, South of the Ohio "- now Tennessee. He set up his government first in Sullivan County at the house of William Cobb , near the forks of the Holston and Watauga rivers . This, however, he soon changed to Knoxville, where he continued to reside until Tennessee became a State. While Territorial Governor, Blount was also Superintendent of Indian affairs in the South and West, and effected a number of important treaties with the Indians, the most notable being, "The Treaty of the Holston." June 29th, 1795, he called a Constitutional Convention at Knoxville for the purpose of organizing the State of Tennessee which was accomplished the following year. Blount was elected as the first Senator from Tennessee, with William Cocke as his colleague. 1797 Blount was expelled from the Senate on the charge of attempting to incite a military movement on the part of the southern Indians against Spanish possessions in the Mississippi Valley . The people of Tennessee at once elected him to the State Senate and he was made speaker of that body in vindication of his political course. Blount was one of the most popular men in the annals of Tennessee. His mother's name was Barbara Gray . His wife was Mary Grainger .