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Facts and Events
References
- Ann's maiden name is unknown per research I've uncovered. She married John Southwick after the death of Thomas Flint.
Early Flints in New England
Four men by the name of Flint were among the founders of New England. They were Henry Flint, a clergyman, who came to Boston in 1635 and became minister of the church at Braintree, Mass. in 1640; his brother, Thomas Flint, who came in 1638 and settled in Concord, Mass.; another Thomas Flint who came to salem, Mass. in or before 1638 and his brother, William Flint, who came to salem probably about the same time, although the first mention of him on the records is in 1642. Henry of Braintree and Thomas of Concord came from the parish of Matlock in Derbyshire, England, while Thomas and William of Salem came from Wales. That these two sets of brothers had a common ancestor is probable, but what the relatinoship was, has never been learned.
Henry Flint, the minister at Braintree, married a sister of President Hoar of Harvard. His oldest son, Josiah, graduated from Harvard in 1664 and became minister of the church in Dorchester, Mass. Josiah died when a young man but left two children who became well known. These were Henry who graduated from Harvard in 1693 and who held the position of tutor at the college for fifty-five years, and Dorothy who married Edmund Quincy and by so doing became the first "Dorothy Q" of colonial history. It was this Dorothy who added to the famous mansion house at Quincy, now popularly known as the "Dorothy Q house", the two-story ell for the use of her brother, Tutor Flint.
Thomas flint, the emigrant ancestor, came to America, as tradition reports, from Wales, in Great Britain. The first mention made of him in the town records of Salem is in 1650; but there is reason to believe that he came to this country much earlier; and there is also some evidence to show that he had a mother here as early as 1642. he was among the first settlers of Salem Village, now South Danvers. The spot in the wilderness which he selected for his home is situated on the Salem and North Reading road, about six miles from the present Court House in Salem, and give miles from the town of North reading, and near Phelp's mill and brook. He acquired his land by purchase. the first deed to him on record, "containing one hundred and fifty acres of meadow and pasture land, and lying within the bounds of Salem," he bought Sept. 18, 1654, of John Pickering. The price paid for this land is not mentioned; but quite a good opinion can be formed of its value, from the fact that John Pickering, three years before, gave Mr. John Higginson thirteen pounds for the same land.
The second lot recorded, containing fifty acres, he purchased 1st January, 1662, of Robert Goodall, for which he paid twenty pounds sterling. It is described as situated in Salem, and as beign "near upon a square," and bounded southerly by land of Henry Phelps, weesterly by Phelps's Brook, and northerly and easterly by land of said Goodall. *
This farm of the old patriarch has always remained in the possession of his descendants. It is now occupied by the heirs of Elijah Flint (238), and may truly be called the old homestead, it having been in the family more than two hundred years. He died April 15, 1663. His wife's name was Ann. They had six children.
2. Thomas
3. Elizabeth, born April 30, 1650
4. George, born January 6, 1652
5. John, born October 3, 1655
6. Anna, born December 25, 1657; died April, 1663
7. Joseph, born 1662
* This deed was witnessed by Giles Cory, whose house stood upon land that after his death became a part of the Flint homestead. When eighty years of age, Cory fell a victim to the witchcraft delusion of 1692, by suffering, the cruel torture of being pressed to death - the first and the only instance of this barbarous punishment inflicted in New England.
Source: "Genealogical Record of the Descendants of Thomas Flint of Salem, With a Copy of the Wills and Inventories of the Estates of the First Two Genearations" compiled by John Flint and John H. Stone - Andover: Printed by Warren F. Draper 1860
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Thomas Flint of Concord has been characterized as a "man of wealth, talents and a Christian character." He took an active part, as shown by the town records, in the affairs of Concord until his death in 1653, holding important offices and using his wealth which appears to have been considerable, for the benefit of the town. He left many descendants.
William Flint of Salem was an active member of that community from 1642 until 1673. He accumulated considerable property in Salem in the section of the town where Flint Street now is. It is probably that his dwelling house stood near the corner of Flint and Essex Streets and that his sons and later descendants built homes in this vicinity. * According to one historian he, at one time, occupied the farm of Emanuel Downing at Salem Village. The settlement of his estate in 1673 shows that he left a widow, two sons, Edward and Thomas, and three daughters, all living in Salem. Another daughter was married and living in England. An interesting item which indicates the status of the family is found in the early records where it is stated that in 1652, Alice, daughter of William Flint, was arraigned before the Essex County Court for wearing a silk hood, but on proving that her father was worth two hundred pounds, was discharged.
Thomas Flint of Salem, the fourth of the early Flints in New England, was the imigrant ancestor on the line whose record follows.
Thomas Flint of Salem
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Thomas Flint [1], the first of the family with which this record is concerned, came, according to tradition, from Wales, in or before 1638. He was made a freeman of Salem in March of that year. It is probably that he lived in Salem in March of that year. It is probably that he lived in Salem for a short time but it is impossible now to be sure of the location of his first residence. The map of Salem in 1700 marks the site of a Thomas Flint house on Essex Street near the corner of Summer Street and it is possible that this was the earliest Flint house in Salem. The fact that iw as nearly opposite the ancient house still standing on the corner of Essex and North Streets and known as the Witch House is at least an indication that there may be truth in this theory, for the WitchHouse has been called also the Roger Williams House and there is a family tradition that the earliest Flint house stood near that or Roger Williams.
Thomas Flint did not however remain long in Salem Town but was one of a small group who very early moved out into the wilderness some six miles beyond the original settlement and founded what was known as Salem Village. Thomas increased his first property in the new village by a purchase in 1654 and another in 1662. The homestead which he established remained in the family for generatinos and the farm provided sites for the homes of a number of his descendants. In April 1663 Thomas and his five year old daughter Anna died and it is probable that theirs were the first graves in the ancient family burial place on a hilltop in the fields back of the site of the old house.
Of Ann, the wife of Thomas nothing is known except that when she made her will in 1668, five years after her husband's death, she was the wife of John Southwick (Sutherick)
* Data concerning this family is given in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register of 1860, Vol, 14, and in pamphlet entitled "The Flint Genealogy" by J. Lawrence Bass.
Source: "A supplement to the Genealogical register of the descendants of Thomas Flint of Salem"
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