TREASURES FROM THE BELHAVEN MUSEUM
America is a nation of immigrants--a melting pot of many diverse cultures that have somehow been recast into a single new nation. The struggle for independence by the Colonials in the Revolutionary War was an epic one. Organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution point back with pride to their ancestors and to the material contributions that they made toward the establishment of our Republic.
Mary Eva Blount Way, the founder of the Belhaven Memorial Museum, was a member of the DAR through the "Major Reading Blount" Chapter in Washington, North Carolina. Her membership certificate, dated 1910, hangs in the foyer to the museum, greeting visitors as they enter the front door.
Major Blount, Eva Blount Way's great-grandfather, was the son of Colonel Jacob Blount and Barbara Gray. Reading was appointed a captain in the Fifth Regiment North Carolina Troops in 1776. He served in the Continental Army with distinction until he was promoted to major in 1781, serving as Assistant Paymaster until the end of the war. His brother, Lieutenant Thomas Blount, also served with the Fifth North Carolina until he was captured by the British and sent to England. Jacob and his son Reading were charter members of the Society of the Cincinnati, an American patriotic organization named after the ancient Roman patriot Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (regarded by many as the "Roman George Washington").
Reading Blount's accomplishments alone constitute sufficient "material contribution" for a descendant's membership in the DAR. If that is not enough for you, consider his brother, William Blount. He signed the Constitution of the United States for North Carolina in 1787!
Come and see this piece of history and others in "Granny's Attic," the
Belhaven Memorial Museum.
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