Saturday, September 17, 2011

In like Flint

Alice Flint is the last of my 7x great-grandmothers who I’ve uncovered.  Her parents were William Flint and Alice (Unknown). I’ve seen references that she was born in England and some that indicate she was born in Salem, MA.  And the date ranges from 1636-1640.  I’ve found nothing that cites an original source.   [9/17/2011 8 PM:  True confession.  I just realized that my original posting of this had some misleading info that I have now deleted]

She married John Pickering around 1657, after the death of her first husband, Henry Bullock.  Alice appears in the Essex County court record in 1652, accused of wearing a silk hood; but, because she could prove she was worth £200, it was discharged.  In researching this, I found this article, umm...story, umm...historical fiction, or whatever, and was amused by the amount of detail in “hearsay”:



Published in Wide Awake magazine, Volume 27, June 1888:


Alice's father, William, was born around 1603 in Great Britain, possibly Wales, but again, the sources I found seemed to rely on family tradition for the birthplace, as opposed to documented material.  It is said he arrived in America in 1640 and he does actually appear in Salem records in 1642.  It seems there is much more known about William’s brother, Thomas, but in Pioneers of Massachusetts, I did find information that William was an overseer of fences and highways and a juryman.

4 comments:

  1. I'm descended of Alice's sister, Hannah Flint (1647 - 1723/4), and three times from their uncle Thomas Flint (1693 - 1663). I love the story about her being in court for "dressing above her station". I have several other Salem ancestors who were accused of the same crime, including Bridget Bishop.

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  2. hey, heather-I suppose we may find more connections as I keep going. The gene pool is getting shallower!

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  3. Frances, I'm a little late in reading this, but I descend from your Alice Flint and John Pickering. On my blog, Life From the Roots, I posted this line. http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/search/label/Surname%3A%20Flint. Happy Blogiversary to you.

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  4. Barbara-I've read your post--thanks, it will be helpful as I pursue this line further.

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