Blunt House
506 Thornton Avenue, Dalton GA
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This home was built in 1848 by Ainsworth Blunt. The photo above is about 1868, courtesy of Georgia Archives's Virtual Vault. The photo above shows Lillie Blunt Kirby on the front porch with daughters Lucy and Carolyn. The older woman in the window may have been Elizabeth, mother of Lillie. The home was used by the Union as a hospital. It is the second oldest two story wooden home in Dalton and stayed in the Blunt/Kirby family for many years.
Ainsworth Blunt, pre 1865
Mr. Blunt was born 22 Feb 1810, Amherst NH. He married first to Harriet Ellsworth and had five children: Martha, John, Sarah, Harriet, Ainsworth Jr. Blunt was a missionary to the Cherokee Nation and lived at the Brainerd Mission as a farmer and mechanic. Harriet fell ill and they moved to the Candy Creek Mission in current Bradley County, TN. After the closure of the Mission he went with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears in 1838, later returning to Chattanooga area after becoming ill. He relocated to Cross Creek (now Dalton) in 1843 and became the first mayor of Dalton in 1847, the same year Harriet died. About a year later Ainsworth remarried, to Elizabeth Christian Ramsey. Together, Ainsworth and Elizabeth had one child, Lillie (Eliza Ramsey Blunt). Lillie later married Thomas Miles Kirby. The Blunt family moved to Illinois in 1864, coming back after the War. Mr. Blunt died in 1865.
The home is now owned by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society.
Historic Marker: This house, built in 1848 by Ainsworth Emery Blunt, pioneer settler of Dalton, has been continuously occupied by members of his family. Appointed postmaster of Cross Plains in 1845, Mr. Blunt was elected mayor when that town became Dalton in 1847 and served for many years. He was the moving spirit and founder of the First Presbyterian Church in 1847 and held office as ruling elder in that church until his death in 1865. While Federal troops were in possession of Dalton during the War Between the States, this house was used by them as a hospital.
Sources: Historic Markers across Georgia; Wikipedia; Georgia Archives Virtual Vault.
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This page was last updated on -03/17/2024
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