Caroline Flint, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Caroline Flint
MRS. CAROLINE FLINT. For many years a resident of Porter county, Mrs. Flint gained here a wide circle of friends and her attractive home in the village of Hebron was known for its gracious hospitality. She was at the time of her death the widow of Asa Edward Flint, who was one of the representative farmers of this county at the time of his death, which occurred in 1885.
Mrs. Caroline (Berdine) Flint was born near Ellicottville, Cattaraugus county, New York, on the 14th of December, 1834, a daughter of Nicholas and Sarah. (Bartholomew) Berdine, both of whom were likewise natives of the old Empire state, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer days. Mrs. Flint was twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to Illinois and her parents were numbered among the early settlers in the vicinity of Elgin, that state. The father devoted the major part of his active life to agricultural pursuits and both he and his wife were residents of Indiana at the time of their death. They were folk of sterling character and fine mentality and their home was one in which high ideals were ever in evidence, the while they gave to their children the best possible educational advantages.
Mrs. Flint gained her rudimentary education in the schools of her native state and after the removal to Illinois she availed herself of the advantages of the schools of the city of Chicago. Still later she attended the Valparaiso Seminary and she realized her ambition in fitting herself for the pedagogic profession. She was for some time engaged in teaching in the district school in Eagle Creek township, Lake county, Indiana, and her success was on a parity with her marked popularity. In this state, on the 12th of October, 1854, was solemnized her marriage to Asa Edward Flint, who was at the time proprietor of a hotel at Crown Point, Lake county, his birth having occurred in the state of New York, on the 9th of March, 1829. Two years after his marriage Mr. Flint purchased a farm in Lake county, and there he continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits for a number of years. He then removed to Rochester, New York, where he was foreman in a stave factory for two years. He then came again to Indiana and here he became one of the progressive farmers and stock-growers of Porter county, where he continued to reside until his death. He was a man whose life was ordered on the highest plane of integrity and honor and thus he commanded the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men, the while his genial and generous nature won to him the staunchest of friends in the community that long represented his home. He was industrious and enterprising and through his well directed efforts won a large measure of success, the while he was known as a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party and he was a zealous and liberal member of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which Mrs. Flint likewise had been closely identified as a member and earnest supporter from the days of her youth. Mr. and Mrs. Flint became the parents of only one child, Nelson Berdine Flint, who was born on the 18th of September, 1864, and who was summoned to the life eternal on the 24th of August, 1866, the loss of this fine boy having been a sore bereavement to the devoted parents.
After the death of her honored husband Mrs. Flint disposed of the farm and purchased her attractive home in Hebron, where she became compassed by most gracious surroundings and associations, her circle of friends being coincident with that of her acquaintances. She also owned the homestead of her parents, the same being a fine farm in Boone township, Porter county, and she found much pleasure in retaining this place, it being endeared to her by the memories and associations of the past. Mrs. Flint was specially active in various departments of church work and was for twelve years a popular teacher in the Sunday school. She was a life member of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal church and a zealous worker in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The hospitality of her home was ever extended to clergymen and temperance workers and she was instant in aiding those in suffering and distress, the while her charities and benevolences were limited only by her powers and means, to the full extent of which she gave with a deep sense of stewardship. She was summoned to eternal rest on the 12th of April, 1912. She was a grand and noble woman, and her deeds of benevolence will remain long in the minds of her numerous friends.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 753-757
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook