This report concerns the early Flint family.
The family history begins with Thomas and William Flint whofamily genealogies say, without providing evidence, were brothers.[1]
William is first mentioned in the Salem Mass. records in 1642 and Thomas in 1650.
Thomas died April 15, 1663 probably in Salem Village (now Danvers). William died February 2, 1672/73in Salem.
William did not have many descendants. It is with the descendants of Thomas that we are concerned here.
Thomas Flint was among the first settlers of Salem Village. A deed dated September 18, 1654 records that Thomas Flint bought a tract "containing one hundred and fifty acres of meadow and pasture land, and lying within the bounds of Salem" from John Pickering. On January 1, 1662, Thomas purchased 50 acres of Robert Goodall for which he paid 20 pounds sterling. The land was described as situated near Salem and being "near upon a square." This deed was witnessed by Giles Corey, who was executed in the witchcraft delusion of 1692. Thomas Flint’sland was adjacent to that of Corey.
Thomas Flint had six children by his wife Ann (______), maiden name unknown, all probably born in Salem Village.
An inventory of the estate of Thomas Flint was taken upon his death in April 1663 and again in July 1668 when his widow died. The items in his estate included a farm, land bought of Goodman Goodell, land beyond Ipswich river, at Salem town; domestic animals, grain, tools, household furnishings, wearing apparel, a great Bible and psalm book, and a sermon book.[2] We can conclude, therefore, that he was educated.
Thomas Flint’s son Capt. Thomas Flint (ca. 1645-1721) married Mary Dounton as his second wife, and it is through Capt. Thomas and Mary (Dounton) Flint that we are descended.[3]
Capt. Thomas Flint (ca. 1645-1721)was the oldest of six children. He lived in Salem Village and played a prominent role in the establishment of a village church. "As a mechanic he appears to have possessed considerable skill from the fact that he was selected by the inhabitants of Salem Village to build the first meeting-house in that place."[4] He was a Captain in King Philip’s War and against the Narragansetts in 1675 and was wounded in the Great Swamp Fight on December 19, 1675.[5] He was a large landowner (over 900 acres). He owned land in Reading and what now constitutes North Reading Capt. Thomas Flint died May 24, 1721, age about 76 years.
The will of Capt. "Thomas Flint, Sen.[6] of Salem Village ... husbandman" was dated February 11, 1721 and mentions several children. It contains the following sentence: "I give to my son Samuel, my negro named Cuttee"[7] This indicates that our ancestor Capt. Thomas Flint had a slave.[8]
One further incident concerning the Flint family, while it does not throw light on our ancestry, is of interest. It concerns daughters of Sergt.George Flint (1652/53-1720), a son of the original Thomas. The following is from Genealogical History of the Town of Reading, Mass.: Including The Present Towns of Wakefield, Reading, And North Reading, with Chronological And Historical Sketches, from 1639 To 1874, by Lilley Eaton (Boston, Mass., 1874, pg. 72):
[George Flint] went to Reading before the year 1682, and settled on land he acquired by inheritance from his father, and was the first of the name in the town. He was a farmer, and resided in the North Precinct, now the town of North Reading. Tradition says that his was the first framed house in the Precinct, and that it was early used as a garrison-house, while there were hostile Indians in the Colony. Another circumstance connected with this family is, that on a certain Sabbath all the family were absent at church (five miles distant) but two daughters of Sergt. Flint, who were left at home in charge of the house. During their absence, one of the daughters took a pistol, and, aiming it at the other, said: "Suppose you were an Indian, how easily I could shoot you!" At that moment the pistol went off and lodged its contents in the shoulder of her sister, which crippled her for life.
The daughter wounded accidentally was named Mary Flint.
Bibliographic Note: I relied on two genealogies in compiling this report: (1)A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Thomas Flint, of Salem,with a Copy of the Wills and Inventories of the Estates of the First Two Generations, by John Flint and John H. Stone (Andover, Mass., 1860); (2)Thomas Flint and William Flint, of Salem, Mass. and Their Descendants: Also of the probably unrelated lines of Lt. Robert Flint of Sproutbrook, Montgomery Co., N.Y. and Robert Flint of Virginia and Trenton, N.J., by Alven Martyn Smith (So. Pasadena, Calif., 1931). In researching the Flint family, I also used sources containing vital record information in town records.
-- Roger W. Smith
April 2011
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[1]The same genealogies state that the two presumed brothers may have come from Wales, “as tradition reports.” No evidence is given for this claim.
[2] Sources: Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, III:77-78 Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, IV:19.
[3] This line of descent runs directly to our paternal grandmother, Esther Moulton (Whittredge) Smith (1886-1970). The descent is through Charlotte Flint (1784-1831), daughter of James and Mary (Hart) Flint, who married Thomas Livermore Whittredge (1783-1858). This couple were the great-grandparents of our grandmother Esther.
[4]A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Thomas Flint, of Salem, with a Copy of the Wills and Inventories of the Estates of the First Two Generations, by John Flint and John H. Stone (Andover, Mass., 1860), pg 9. Hereinafter cited as Flint and Stone.
[5] George Madison Bodge, Soldiers of King Philip's War, Third Edition (originally published Boston, 1906; reprinted, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Md., 1976, pg. 167. Thomas flint of Salem (listed among 10 men wounded).
[6] Capt. Thomas also had a son Thomas. Hence the designation “Sen.”
[7] Flint and Stone, pp., 140-44.
[8]Slavery in Massachusetts was abolishedin 1781 through a judicial decision.