Billa Flint
Encyclopedia
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. He was a Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
member of the Senate of Canada from 1867 to 1894.
He was born in Elizabethtown (later Brockville
Brockville, Ontario
Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Though it serves as the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Brockville is politically independent and is grouped with Leeds and Grenville for census purposes only.Known as the "City of the 1000...
) in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
and dropped out of school after six weeks to work for his father as a clerk. In 1829, unhappy with the sale of liquor at his father's hotel, he moved to Belleville
Belleville, Ontario
Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...
and set up his own business there. In the same year, he also founded a temperance society
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
there. In 1836, he was appointed magistrate and also became president of the Board of Police. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
in 1847 for Hastings
Hastings County, Ontario
Hastings County is located in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is The Cheese Capital of Canada. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. The population was 125,915 in 2001 and grew to 130,474 in the 2006 Canada Census...
and, in 1854, for Hastings South. In 1863, he was elected to the Legislative Council
Legislative Council of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the province of Ontario...
for Trent division and served until Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
when he was appointed to the Senate. In 1866, he served as mayor of Belleville. He served over 20 years on the council for Hastings County and was warden for the county in 1873.
His business had expanded from the sale of goods into the harvesting and sale of timber and the operation of warehouses and wharfs for storing and transporting goods. He also established towns along the Skootamatta River
Skootamatta River
The Skootamatta River is a river in the Lake Ontario drainage basin in Hastings and Lennox and Addington Counties in Ontario, Canada. It flows from Joeperry Lake to join the Moira River in Tweed...
, with mills and factories, at Troy (later Actinolite
Actinolite, Ontario
Actinolite is a community on the Skootamatta River in eastern Ontario. It is in the Municipality of Tweed, in Hastings County, on Highway 37 just south of Highway 7 and north of Tweed....
) and Flint's Mills (now Flinton
Flinton, Ontario
Flinton is a small, unincorporated village in the township of Addington Highlands in Ontario, Canada. Presently about 250 people call it their home. Billa Flint was the founder of Flinton. The Skootamatta River falls were used to power the many mills....
). He purchased mills at York Mills, later named Bancroft
Bancroft, Ontario
Bancroft is a town located on the York River in Hastings County in the Canadian province of Ontario.- History :In 1853 the first pioneer family settled in the area, and over the next 15 years the settlement grew quickly, as another 88 families followed...
after his wife's maiden name. He also helped promote steamships on Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
and railway links in the region. Although forceful and opinionated, he also donated land for schools and churches.
He died at Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
in 1894, while serving as member of the Senate.
Flint wrote a series of articles about the early days of Belleville which were published in the newspapers of the time.