And this is why I love family history! My cousin, Jenimarie who is more like a sister to me sent me a most exciting text this week explaining how she and her husband Jeff can trace their lines to common ancestors.....
William Flint married to Mary Jane Goodridge
They had several children, two of whom were sisters: Valeria Ann Flint (Jeff's Line) and Harriet Rosella Flint (Our line). Harriet married Albert Douglas Dickson. They had Sophia Dickson who married David Christopher Weaver. They are Grandpa Weaver's parents.
Valeria Ann Flint married Edward Laird. They had Rhoda Lois Laird who married Frank Sefton Naylor. These are the parents of Jeff's Grandma Verna Laird Naylor Coon Cleverly.
I am still amazed at this connection! I think that this makes us 4th cousins. Jeff's Grandma and our Grandpa are second Cousins!
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| Harriet Rosella Flint (2nd from right, Valeria Flint (far right) |
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| Jeff and Jeni |
Brief history of William Flint, from "Utah, Our Pioneer Heritage"
William Flint, one of the Utah pioneers of 1848, was born Jan. 28, 1814, in Onondaga County, N.Y. He became a convert to Mormonism in the State of New York through the labors of Orson Hyde. He located in Nauvoo, Illinois, then came west during the exodus and spent two years at Winter Quarters. In crossing the plains in 1848, he drove a team for Mary Fielding Smith, mother of the late President Joseph Fielding Smith, from Winter Quarters to the Three Crossings of the Sweetwater. From there Mr. Flint was sent back on the road to assist the later companies of that year's emigration to the Valley. After his arrival in Salt Lake Valley, he married Mary Jane Goodridge in 1850. Eight children were the issue of this marriage, namely, Sarah Jane, Valeria Ann, William L., Fedalia (who later married Henry Jacobs), Harriet, Abel, George and Sophia. William Flint died Sept. 21, 1890, at the home of his daughter, Valeria, in Parley's Canyon. He was a farmer by avocation, and died a faithful Latter-Day Saint, being the only one of his father's family who joined the Church. —Jenson
Mary Jane Goodridge Flint, history, from "Utah, Our Pioneer Heritage"
Mary Jane Goodridge Flint, daughter of Benjamin and Penelope Goodridge, was born on the 11th of June, 1825, at Lunenburg, Massachusetts. She, with her father's family, left with the Wilford Woodruff Company for the Salt Lake Valley. On July 10, 1850, they reached the Platte River where Mary Jane was baptized by Wilford Woodruff.
The teams consisted of from two to five yoke of oxen to one wagon. In a stampede there would often be from thirty to forty teams running in all directions, knocking down anything that happened to be in their way. Wilford Woodruff ran into the midst of one of these stampedes and rescued his wife, Emma, and several others. Another time, Prescott Hardy was injured in the arm and thigh. Many others were injured at this time but none were killed. Mary Jane drove a yoke of oxen all the way across the plains and one day when they stampeded she narrowly escaped death. There happened to be an opening through which she fled, fortunately without injury. She often said that those who had never witnessed a stampede could not imagine the awful confusion and terror that reigned.
On December 24, 1850, Mary Jane married William Flint, having known him only three weeks. To reassure her as to his respectability, he referred her to Heber C. Kimball, for whom he had worked. She went to Brother Kimball, who recommended William very highly and told her she would be making no mistake. After their marriage they went to Farmington, Davis County, where they lived in a dugout until they could get enough logs to build a house. Her life there was very hard, with quite a few exciting incidents. One day while she and her bus band and brother were eating dinner, a large snake dropped by its taft from the roof and hung over a pan of milk. Another time a snake was curled up under the chair on which she was sitting. As she was expecting a baby soon, her husband didn't want her to know so he asked her to step outside for a moment. He then went in and killed the snake. During a time when the Indians were hostile and her husband was standing guard against them, an old Indian slipped into the house and demanded a gun that was standing back of the bed. Mary Jane refused to let him have it. He jumped across the bed, snatched the gun, which was loaded, and was pointing it at her when their big dog grabbed him by the leg. The Indian dropped the gun and begged her to call off the dog, which she did. He had been bitten quite badly, so Mary Jane bathed the wound and let him stay awhile. When her husband came home, he said the Indian could remain all night. The only light they had at night was a lighted rag in a tin of grease. It was called a "****." Later on she made candles out of tallow.
Mary Jane Goodridge Flint
In 1856, they moved from Farmington to Salt Lake City and made their home in the 19th Ward on the corner of 2nd West and 3rd North, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Mary Jane wove the materials for her family's clothes, linsey, flannel and worsted. After her husband was incapacitated by an accident, she added to the family income by weaving beautiful carpets for other people. They raised their children without ever having a doctor. Mary Jane was the first to pass away. The last year of her life she was seriously ill with cancer. There werefew drugs available in those days to alleviate pain, but she bore her suffering with great fortitude. She died January 19, 1883, at the age of 58. —Mary Jane Flint Jackson
The Flint line continues for generations back, but the maternal line of Mary Jane dead ends at her grandmother-- the only name give for her is Whitney-- is this her first or last...? Who were her parents-- no one know. Perhaps its up to Cousins Jeff and Jeni to figure out!
And then of course the reason I love family history--- discovering the character of our ancestors--- oh to be like the Goodridge family!
In an account of the Bishop Leonard W. Hardy Family it is related that: “In Captain Hardy’s camp there was a family by the name of Goodridge, father, mother, several young girls and an 11-year-old boy. They were a musical family, full of fun and possessing the happy faculty of making the best and most of every situation. The girls sang and danced; they gathered berries on the way; they laughed. But they also counted the graves and wondered about the sadness and hardships of the travelers and wept for those who were left behind on the prairie. They helped nurse the sick, washed and mended, cooked and carried water; they knew how to work. When necessary they would wade streams without complaining, shake the dust out of their clothing without resentment and gather buffalo chips without disgust. They could fall on their knees night and morning and thank their Heavenly Father for their health and strength, their safety, their food and clothing, and the boundless sea of grass that paved their way to freedom.
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