MAGLWFlint
WILLIAM FLINT 1814-1859
Deputy Grand Master, 1859 (died in office)
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings Page VI-245ff, 1859
"The Great Arbiter of life and Death, who doeth all things wisely and well, has in his Providence removed from this Body one so recently among us in the apparent activity of health; one long devoted to our cause and to the service of his God, to the fulfilment of every duty as a man and Mason.
"Our late D. G. M. R. W. Bro and Rev. Wm. Flint died at Greenfield, the town of his residence, and of the Episcopal Church of which, he was the beloved Rector, on Tuesday morning of the 12th. April last. His health had not been good for about a year previously but his confinement and inability to perform the duties of his profession, continued only the Friday preceding the day of his disease. It was his request that he should be buried with Masonic honors, a mark of respect we should have rendered to his memory as a worthy and devoted Mason had this request not been made. Accordingly on the day of his burial, April 14th. our funeral rites were performed by the G. Master, John T. Heard assisted R. W. Winslow Lewis. P. G. M: R. W. Charles W. Moore. R. G. S: R. W and Rev Dr Osgood. G. C: W. Br. W. W. Wheildon G. S: W. Br Lambert preached the funeral discourse, one deeply impressive and eloquent. Republican Lodge and a large number of Brethren residing in the neighborhood of Greenfield, were present also. The prayer at the grave by the venerable Chaplain, the Rev Dr Osgood breathed the spirit of piety and confidence that all was well forever with our dead Brother, and with that confidence we laid his body in the earth, with the full assurance of his souls blessed immortality.
"The Rev Dr Flint was a man of no ordinary composition. In stature commanding, with a fine voice — he was an impressive speaker — his style fervid and forcible — and his mind could pass with great rapidity from "grave to gay, from lively to severe." He had a genial, warm, affectionate heart. Ever ready to conduce to the pleasure of his friends, he was ever the welcome companion. No one who knew him but loved him. He was the "beau ideal" the very personification of the good, the upright the sincere Mason and friend. His intellectual power was strong, his mental endowments much above the common standard, and as a conversationalist he excelled. He won hearts by his kindness of manner, and respect by his evident excellence,
"We have lost a most valued Brother, and Masonry one of its firmest votaries. We have lost one who had a heart — for alas: all have the mere pulsating organ, but few possess that high functionery perfection of moral action, which is the heart's best performance, which feels aright for all and is contained in a breast which bestows happiness around.
"There is a tribute due to every departed Brother who has filled his Masonic relations with fidelity however humble the position he may have occupied in the Fraternity; and surely, to him now lost to us on earth, who occupied the honorable office next to the Chair in this Gd Lodge, who, in so many States of this Union sustained so many varied relations of Masonic importance — we owe all that we can now pay to his memory the adoption of the following resolutions:
"Resolved — that the Christian Church — the general community, and Freemasonry have lost by the death of our R. W. Brother the late Rev. Wm. Flint a true soldier of the cross, a valued citizen, a dearly beloved Brother.
"Resolved. That though translated from earth to happier skies; though lost in the midst of life and usefulness he has done his work well, and has left his memory to be cherished, his loss to be deplored.
"Resolved. That we tender the united sympathies of our Fraternity to her, who shared with him the happiness of domestic union, and trust that that union though here severed, may be re-established in the never ending tie of a still happier hereafter."
ARTICLE IN FREEMASON'S MONTHLY
From Freemason's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XVIII, Page 196, May 1859:
"it has become our painful duty to record the death of the R.W. Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of this Commonwealth - the Reverend WILLIAM FLINT, of Greenfield, at which place he died on Tuesday, the 12th ultimo, aged 45. The immediate cause of his death was a malignant tumor in the abdomen, with which he has been afflicted for sometime. He has suffered acutely nearly the whole of the past year, and been compelled to rely almost wholly upon stimulating anodines for temporary relief. He has however borne his sufferings without complaining, and with a firmness and submissiveness eminently consistent with his Christian profession and character.
"Brother Flint was a native of Charlestown, Mass., and in the public schools of that place received the rudiments of his education. He subsequently entered Amherst College, from which he graduated with honor, and soon after engaged in the study of Medicine. Having obtained his degree he removed to the South, and settled, we think, in North Carolina, where he commenced practice; but taking a dislike to his profession, or not succeeding to his expectations, he abandoned it and entered upon the study of law, and was in due time admitted to the Bar, either in Georgia or Alabama. He seems not, however, to have been more fortunate in his second, than in its first choice of a profession, for he soon after left the law, and engaged in the study of divinity, and was in due time ordained as a Minister of the Episcopal church. We are not able to state with whom he studied, or where he was first settled. He was, however, Rector of the Episcopal Church at Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1853; in which year he was called to St. John's Church, in his native town. Here he continued about two years, when he accepted an invitation to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Rev. Dr. Strong, as Rector of St. James' Church, in Greenfield. Here he remained until his deceased. He was endowed by nature with a high order of talent. As a reader, he had but few equals among the clergy of the church; and as a writer, but few superiors.
"The funeral took place at Greenfield, on Thursday, the 14th, at noon. The body was taken into the church of which he was the Rector, where the solemn rites of the dead were performed by Rev. Brother Lambert, or Charlestown, Rev. Mr. Childs, of Springfield, and Rev. Mr. Reynolds, of Ashfield. An exceedingly appropriate and able discourse was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Lambert, in which the speaker paid a warm and just tribute to the personal worth and eminent ability - the genial heart and strong attachments of his deceased friend and Brother. Notwithstanding the severe storm, the church was filled to its entire capacity, and services were listened to with great attention.
"After the services in the church, a procession was formed, which attended the body to the Cemetery, where the Masonic burial services were performed by the officers of the Grand Lodge. They consisted of singing an appropriate Hymn; Prayer by Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood, Grand Chaplain, of Springfield; Address by the Grand Master; Invocation, and Responses by the Brethren; after which each member of the Fraternity dropped a sprig of evergreen into the grave, and the ceremonies were concluded with singing, and a Benediction. A large number of Brethren were present from Shelburne Falls, Northfield, Northampton, Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and other neighboring towns. The stores of the town, and the post office were closed, and the bells tolled during the moving of the procession.
"The following brief address was delivered by the M.W. Grand Master, Col. Heard, at the grave:
Brethren - We are assembled around the grave of one who when living was esteemed and honored by his fellow-men. Of his high position in general society and in the Church, I purpose not to speak. His virtues will be ever remembered by those who had the privilege to hold daily communion with him; and the example of his Christian life and the excellence of his character as a Minister of the Gospel, will receive a fitting eulogium from those who were associated with him in the holy profession to which he devoted so many of the years of his earthly existence. But I would allude most briefly to his Masonic life, which was one of great experience and usefulness.
He was made a Master Mason in Davie Lodge, Brittain's Cross Roads, Bertie County, North Carolina, in 1837. He demitted from that Lodge, Nov. 4 of the same year, and subsequently was elected Secretary of Scotland Neck Lodge, Halifax County, N.C., in which office he served two years. He afterwards removed to Augusta, Ga., and was connected one year with the Lodge at that place. Removing to Athens, Ga., he 'succeeded as editor of a newspaper, by continued advertising, in collecting together a sufficient number of old Masons to form a new Lodge,' in which he officiated as Senior Warden. On the 7th of November, 1844, he was elected to the office of Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, which he filled one year. Previous to this, he had spent a little more than a year in Clayton, Alabama, where he established Royal Hart Lodge, and was its first Master.
In 1846, he removed to Erie, Penn., where he found a few faithful Brethren, who united with him in organizing Presque Isle Lodge, of which he was the first, and elected again to be the third Master, which station he filled. Removing to Charlestown, Mass., he became Chaplain to King Solomon's Lodge, and subsequently on his settlement in this town he filled the same office in Republican Lodge.
During his Masonic career, he was successively a member of the Grand Lodges of North Carolina, George, Alabama and Massachusetts. He died holding the second office in this Masonic Jurisdiction, which for more than two years he filled with grace, dignity and ability.
We all remember the elegant and appropriate address delivered before the Lodge in this town on the occasion of the dedication of its new Hall - a production breathing the spirit of piety and brotherly love, and inculcating in stirring terms the principles of our cherished Institution. It was then that I had the happiness to form those personal relations which lasted to the time of his death.
Our Brother dedicated the new Hall of Mount Zion Lodge in Barre in Febr., 1858, and endeared himself to the Brethren there by his genial, fraternal intercourse with them, as well as by the instructive and beautiful charge he delivered in the course of the ceremonies of dedication. His historical address before King Solomon's Lodge in September last, was replete with Masonic knowledge and expressed with the force and beauty of style for which he was distinguished.
During the time in which he was officially associated with me - a period of more than two years - our relations were intimate, confidential and truly fraternal. Not always was it in his power to attend the communications of the Grand Lodge; but, still, his attendance was frequent; and his occasional inability to perform this duty was always made known to me in terms of deepest regret.
His chair in the Grand Lodge is now vacant. The station which he filled in this jurisdiction with so great honor to himself and benefit to the Fraternity, will never again be occupied by him. That voice is hushed forever; the tones we loved to listen to will not again be heard in our assemblies.
At his request, often expressed to those who attended him in his last sickness, we are assembled to perform our burial rites over his remains. This request is in harmony with the high appreciation with which he regarded freemasonry, and is consistent in one who devoted so much of his life and talents to its extension and prosperity.
At a meeting of Republican Lodge, at Greenfield, on the 17th ult. the following resolutions were adopted:-
Resolved, That while society has been deprived of a brilliant and useful member, the church of an honest and earnest supporter, - ours have been the greater loss of a social, genial friend - a sympathizing, kind adviser, a true-hearted, generous Brother, - a loss which we most deeply feel, and which can never be supplied.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be communicated to the widow of the deceased Brother, and that they be published in both the Greenfield papers, and in Moore's Masonic Magazine.
