This website is a project of the Texas Flynts created to assist the descendants of Richard Flynt of Lancaster Co., Virginia discover their ancestry and access information about the family. These pages include all of the branches of the descendants of Richard Flynt for which we have information. Detailed information is excluded on all living people, but some information on individual accomplishments may be included if permission is granted. Dissemination of information on reunions or other family events, maintaining contact with relatives, and supporting additional research on the Flynt/Flint family are additional goals of this site.

lynt family origins are not known, but the family name in a variety of spellings Flynt, Flint, fflint, fflynt, Flynte, Flinte, etc. has been in use for many centuries. One could safely speculate that the name derives directly or indirectly from flint rock, the name being derived either from a geological/location feature or perhaps a physical or personality characteristic. Flint used as a descriptive as in flint-hearted for hard-hearted, flint-hide for thick-skinned, etc. has been in use longer than the recorded use of Flint as a name. Flint has been used for centuries in phrases such as “as true as flint , used to express firmness in allegiance. to get or wring water from a flint , used to express extreme difficulty in doing something. to skin a flint : a hyperbolical exemplification of avarice. (to set one's face) like a flint : firmly, steadfastly. ” i

The first time the name Flint appears in records that we are aware of is in 1086 in the Domesday Book for Suffolk County on the Land of Vavassors, the Hundered of Claydon, and village of Westerfield. The Domesday Book records that “In Westerfield 6 free men, Alwin, Flint, Alwin, Edic, Wulfric, Alstan; between them 15 acres. 1 plough. Value 30d. One of them, Flint by name, gave a pledge for what they gave (to) the revenue in Ipswich and the Sherriff proved that he had lied. The same Sheriff is surety concerning it. The King and the Earl (have) the jurisdiction” ii

There is a town of Flint, in Flintshire, in northeast Wales near the mouth of the Dee River. Flint has a castle built in 1277 by Edward I as part of his “Iron Ring.” The site of the castle had been a battle ground dating back to the times of the Celts and Romans. iii Flint Castle was immortalized in a 1838 watercolor by the famous British artist William Turner. Some people have speculated that the Flynt family took its’ name from this location.

The first appearance of a Flynt/Flint in Virginia was Thomas Flint who arrived in 1618 and lived in Warwick County. iv   Thomas Flint is recorded as living at Burcke Row in February 1623. Two Richard Flynt families appear in Virginia around the same time (early 1650s), one in Lancaster County and the other in Northumberland County. The Northumberland Flynt family may be related, but are not likely to be ancestors of the Flynts in Lancaster County, Virginia. DNA would help in determining if there is a link.  There are also records for Richard Flynts in Westmoreland and Isle of Wight Counties at this time, but these records may be for one of the two identified Richard Flynts. Our Flynt family begins in with Richard Flynt ca1624-ca1663 and his wife Mary in Lancaster County, Virginia. Richard died leaving a young son also a Richard Flynt in the care of a neighbor Robert Pritchett. Thus begins our Flynt family. We have not added any Flynt ancestry beyond this point as we are not been able to verify the connections from the sources we have.

The first Flynt/Flints found in Texas are Sanford Flynt in Robertson County and William Flynt in Fort Bend County both listed on 1840 Republic of Texas tax lists. Of these two Flynt families only the family of Sanford Flynt has been identified. He is Sanford Perry Flynt the son of William Flynt and grandson of Richard Flynt and wife, Ann Perry. Sanford Perry Flynt along with his first cousins, Jeremiah Flynt, John Halbert Flynt, C. Amasa Flynt, and Josephine Annie (Flynt) Andrews are among the earliest known descendants of Richard Flynt of Lancaster County, Virginia to arrive in Texas. Richard Flynt descendants continued moving to Texas and eventually spread around the country and the world.

i Oxford University Press. (1989). flint, n. Retrieved September 2, 2009, from http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/display/50086378?keytype=ref&ijkey=.VSwgM8WqgMww

ii (1986). Domesday Book, Suffolk County. In J. Morris (Ed.). Chichester: Phillimore.

iii BBC. (2007, May 3). Wales North East. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/panoramics/pages/flint_castle.shtml

iv Virginia Historical Society. (n.d.). Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol 11, 317. Retrieved August 26, 2009, from Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=wZS_LGEg7kAC&pg=PA316&lpg=PA316&dq=%22thomas+flint%22+virginia&source=bl&ots=0x2SF40j9w&sig=y04t0_1smExRDosW-LBCPU8rYEk&hl=en&ei=gPOVSs6MCY6wsgPO5LScDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=%22thomas%20flint%2