Benjamin Flint, ship owner and merchant, a native of Damariscotta, Maine, born Dec. 13, 1813, died in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 28, 1891. He was a son of Robert Chapman and Lucinda Flint, the latter being a daughter of Dr. Thomas Flint, a surgeon in the American Revolution, who, while serving on one occasion upon a privateer, was captured by the British and taken to England. Benjamin Flint Chapman, by which name he was first known, was adopted by his uncle, Benjamin Flint, a captain in the War of 1812, and at the age of twenty-two, by act of the Maine Legislature, changed his name to Benjamin Flint, in honor of his uncle. Trained to the art of a shipwright in Thomaston, Me., he possessed a mind which speedily lifted him out of the ranks of those who must spend their lives in manual labor. By investment of his earnings, he was finally drawn into shipping. In 1840, with his brother, Isaac F. Chapman, he formed the firm of Chapman & Flint, to conduct a general store in Damariscotta. In 1841, they built the bark Alabama, of 280 tons, and soon thereafter rose to prominence as shipowners and general carriers in the ocean trade. For many years, the firm built a vessel nearly every year, first in Thomaston, Me., but after 1868 in Bath, Me., increasing the size of their vessels year by year until they reached about 2,600 tons. In 1873, a younger brother, James F. Chapman, who had previously commanded several of their vessels, removed to San Francisco to manage the business of the firm there, and became part owner in many ships. Mr. Flint and Isaac F. Chapman removed to Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1858, in order the better to manage their large fleet. The firm of Chapman & Flint dissolved in1880, and in 1886 Mr. Flint founded the firm of Flint & Co., with his sons Charles R. and Wallace B. Flint, as partners, with offices at 86Water street. Their commission trade was mainly with South America, Mexico and the West Indies. While in Thomaston, Mr. Flint and Mr. Chapman bought adjoining lots and laid the foundation for houses exactly alike. In Brooklyn, they lived first in adjoining houses on Fort Green Place, and later bought brown stone houses precisely alike in Oxford street. During the Civil War, while Confederate cruisers were preying on American ships at sea, the firm suspended shipbuilding for a while and constructed a row of houses on one side of Montague Terrace in Brooklyn. Mr. Flint was twice married, first to Sarah Toby, next to Frances E. Scribner. The latter survived him, with his two sons, Charles R. and Wallace B. Flint. Mr. Flint was a sound, clearheaded, and very capable man, of strong common sense, unbending integrity and kindly nature. He was universally esteemed in the business world.

Above taken from; "America's Successful Men of Affairs: An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography, Vol. I (F), p 242, by Charles Ranlett Flint.