Jonathan T. FLINT

Family/Spouse: Harriet SHUMWAY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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One of the founder-families of Portland, Chautauqua county, is that represented in this generation by the brothers who own and keep in splendid production the bulk of the tract of wild land first owned by their grandfather, Abial Flint, in 1817. The form, as it is today, is one of the best maintained acreages in the district, and presents an altogether different appearance to what it did when the pioneer ancestor first set about the stupendous task of winning it from the wilderness. Its present condition represents the grit, the steadfastness, the resolute persistence in the pioneer work, despite hardships and discouragements, of three generations of the Flint family, and the place of respect the family holds in the community today is the result of useful lives well lived.

Abiel Flint, the pioneer ancestor of the Chautauqua county, NY, branch of the Flint family, was born at East Windsor, Conn., Sept. 5, 1768, the son of Arkalis and Betsey (Elmer) Flint. He appears to have come into New York State in early manhood, for it was in Rome, Oneida county, NY, that he married, Sept. 26, 1802, Mary Brown, who as born in Coventry, Conn., Nov 30, 1780. About the year 1812 Abiel Flint brought his wife and family of three children into Chautauqua county and settled at Priestville. About 1817 he bought a tract of fifty acres of wild land in Portland and moved his family to that land. He was by trade a tanner and currier, and also a shoemaker, but the desire to own his own home and sufficient land for the sustenance of his family proved irresistible, and he entered upon the great task of clearing the wilderness from his land with resolute purpose and cheerful spirit. His wife ably and courageously assisted him, withstanding all the rigors that came to them, both of them buoyed up by the prospect of having eventually a home wrought by their own hands from the wilderness. That was the inspiration that softened all their labors, that gave them renewed courage when all seemed dark, and when it appeared that it would be barely possible that they could live to the time when their tract would be sufficiently cleared to afford them more than a sparse living. They experienced most of the rials and hardships which have been the lot of most pioneers, and they manifested the same resolute spirit that has been shown by so many of the great pioneers of this country. And notwithstanding everything they prospered, and raised a family of eight children in the original log house Abial Flint built. For twenty-one years the family lived in a log house, as it was not until 1833 that Abial Flint built a frame house, their youngest child at that time being ten years old. Mrs. Flint died fifteen years later, on May 5, 1849, at the age of sixty-eight years, but her husband lived to reach the venerable age of ninety-one years, his death not coming until Jan. 15, 1860. Both were buried in Evergreen Cemetery, and were honored as pioneers of the district, and as good people. They were Methodists, of earnest spirit, and took part in the formation of the first church, both being members of the first class formed in Portland. Politically Abial Flint was a Whig and in general was a man of strong, upright character. he lived on his Chautauqua county farm for forty-three years, and had the satisfaction of seeing it mostly cleared and in cultivation before his death.......

Abial married Mary BROWN on 26 Sep 1802. Mary was born on 30 Nov 1780 in Coventry, Connecticut; died on 5 May 1849 in Portland, Chautauqua County, New York; was buried in Portland Evergreen Cemetery, Portland, Chautauqua Co., New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]