Joseph Blunt

Joseph Blunt
Joseph Blunt
New York, District Attorney
	In office; 1858–1860
Preceded by	Peter B. Sweeny
Succeeded by	Nelson J. Waterbury
Personal details
Born	February 1792; Newburyport, Massachusetts
Died	June 16, 1860; New York City
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican Party
Profession	Attorney, Politician

Joseph Blunt (February 1792 – June 16, 1860 was an American lawyer, author, editor and politician from New York. In 1858, he was appointed New York County District Attorney.

Life

Joseph Blunt was born on February 1792 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was one of four sons of Edmund March Blunt.[1]

In 1802, Edmund M. Blunt published the American Practical Navigator by Nathaniel Bowditch, the man who became the godfather of Joseph's younger brother Nathaniel Bowditch Blunt.[2]

Joseph Blunt first came into notice by writing on the Missouri question in 1820. Soon afterward he wrote an article on the Laibach circular, published in the North American Review, which attracted the attention of politicians. In 1825, he published a Historical Sketch of the Formation of the American Confederacy (8 vol.), and from 1827 to 1835 he edited the American Annual Register. He also published Speeches, Reviews, and Reports (1843) and Merchants' and Shipmasters' Assistant (1829 and 1848).[3]

He was long a leading Whig and protectionist. In 1851, Millard Fillmore appointed him Commissioner to China, but he declined to take office.[4]

In September 1855, he was a delegate to the Anti-Nebraska state convention in Syracuse which merged with the Whigs to form the Republican Party in the State of New York.[5][6]

In 1858, he was appointed by Gov. John A. King New York County District Attorney to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Peter B. Sweeny.[7]

Brothers

Joseph's youngest brother, N. Bowditch Blunt, was New York County District Attorney from 1851 to 1854. The other two brothers, Edmund (1799–1866) and George William (1802–1878)[8] followed their father's steps and got involved in nautical affairs. Edmund assisted Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler in surveying the port of New York for the United States Coast Survey in 1817.[9] George W. Blunt was for decades a member, and later secretary, of the Board of Pilot Commissioners, and in 1857 was appointed a New York Harbor Commissioner.[3] Joseph Blunt's nephew was Capt. Edmund Blunt.[10]

Death

Blunt died on June 16, 1860 in New York City.

References

"A New Chart of Part of the North Pacific Ocean Exhibiting the Various Straits, Islands and Dangers". World Digital Library. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
John Howard Brown (1900). Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States], Volume 1.
Wilson & Fiske 1900.
List of State Department officials
THE ANTI-NEBRASKA CONVENTION.; Remarks of Joseph Blunt, Esq., on the Nomination of a State Ticket in the New York Times on October 2, 1854
REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION in the New York Times on September 28, 1855
The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 531)
DEATH OF GEO. W. BLUNT in the New York Times on April 20, 1878
A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased by Samuel Austin Allibone (page 211; Vol. 1; Childs & Peterson, Philadelphia, 1859)
Obit of Capt. Edmund Blunt, Joseph Blunt's nephew, in the New York Times on January 25, 1894

Attribution

Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Blunt, Edmund March" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

Legal offices
Preceded by Peter B. Sweeny	New York County District Attorney 1858	Succeeded by Nelson J. Waterbury

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[WDL-1] "A New Chart of Part of the North Pacific Ocean Exhibiting the Various Straits, Islands and Dangers". World Digital Library. Retrieved 23 May 2013.

[2] John Howard Brown (1900). Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States], Volume 1.

[FOOTNOTEWilson_&_Fiske1900-3] Wilson & Fiske 1900.

[4] List of State Department officials

[5] THE ANTI-NEBRASKA CONVENTION.; Remarks of Joseph Blunt, Esq., on the Nomination of a State Ticket in the New York Times on October 2, 1854

[6] REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION in the New York Times on September 28, 1855

[7] The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 531)

[8] DEATH OF GEO. W. BLUNT in the New York Times on April 20, 1878

[9] A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, and British and American Authors, Living and Deceased by Samuel Austin Allibone (page 211; Vol. 1; Childs & Peterson, Philadelphia, 1859)

[10] Obit of Capt. Edmund Blunt, Joseph Blunt's nephew, in the New York Times on January 25, 1894