Biography - James Andrew Blount
James Andrew Blount of Grenada, Miss, State Senator from the Twenty-eighth District, was born December 29, 1881, at Williamsburg, Covington County, Miss. and is the son of Thomas C. Blount who was the son of William of Collins, Miss. His father entered the Confederate service in 1862, at the early age of fifteen, as a private in the Fourth Mississippi Calvary Regiment, under Captain William Barnes and Gen. Nathan B. Forrest. He shared in the many heroic efforts of these brave defenders of the South throughout the Civil War. Thomas C. Blount was the son of William Blount and Mary Loflin Blount of Blountsville, Miss. The family which has many representatives in the early military annals of America settled in Mississippi before the Civil War and took part in the pioneer development of Lawrence County, removing later to Covington and Grenada Counties in which last Senator Blount resides. His mother is the daughter of Lawrence McCollum and Jane McCullom of Williamsburg, Miss. He received his early education in the public schools of Covington County; entered Millsaps College in 1901 from which he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Ph. D. and B.S. In the summer of 1909-10 he took a post graduate course at the University of Mississippi. He was Superintendent of the public schools in Charleston, Miss. for three years in which position he was very successful. Through having already enjoyed unusual education advantages, being very ambitious to equip himself thoroughly for his life work he attended Harvard University in 1911 and received from that institution a certificate of education, and later studied law at the University of Chicago, 1912, and Millsaps College, 1913, graduating with the degree of L.L. B. After graduating in law in 1913, he located for practice at Grenada, Miss. and soon was recognized as one of the leading lawyers of North Mississippi. Becoming very popular with the people of his section, he was induced to offer for the State Senate, to which position he was elected in November, 1915. Senator Blount is recognized as one of the ablest young members of the Legislature of 1916-20 and no representative of that body entertains higher conceptions of duty to the State. He is a Democrat, a deacon in the Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with the fraternal orders of Masons, Woodmen of the World, and Kappa Alpha Fraternity of Millsaps College. Senator Blount is unmarried. Senator Blount is at present in the service of his country, in which service he is ardently and passionately devoted.
