The Blount County News was established by Lawrence H. Mathews in Blount Springs as the Blount Springs News in March of 1877. In 1887, Mathews' newspaper merged with the Blount County Dispatch to become the Blount County News-Dispatch. Mathews moved his paper for the last time in 1889 when Oneonta became the new county seat. Mathews died in 1896 but his paper continued until 1903 when it succumbed to the dominance of a new paper called the Southern Democrat. Microfilmed copies of the News-Dispatch were studied page by page and within this volume are found every mention of births, marriages, deaths, obituaries, and news important to the genealogy and history of Blount County. This volume also contains a rare and complete collection of Mary Gordon Duffee's Sketches of Blount County. Hidden nuggets of information of interest to the descendants of Blount County pioneers are found within this volume.