Billa Flint (February 9, 1805 – June 15, 1894) was a businessman and political figure in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

member of the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

from 1867 to 1894. He was born in Elizabethtown (later

Brockville Brockville is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It is included with Leeds and ...

) in

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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 and set up his own business there. In the same year, he also founded a

temperance society The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emphasi ...

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 The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

in 1847 for

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

and, in 1854, for Hastings South. In 1863, he was elected to the

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for Trent division and served until

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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 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. The river's name is thought to come from Ojibwa wo ...

, with mills and factories, at Troy (later

Actinolite Actinolite is an amphibole silicate mineral with the chemical formula . Etymology The name ''actinolite'' is derived from the Greek word ''aktis'' (), meaning "beam" or "ray", because of the mineral's fibrous nature. Mineralogy Actinolite i ...

) and Flint's Mills (now Flinton). He purchased mills at York Mills, later named Bancroft after his wife's mother's maiden name. Her name was Elizabeth Ann Clement (née Bancroft). He also helped promote steamships on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

and railway links in the region. Although forceful and opinionated, he also donated land for schools and churches. He died at

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

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.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Hastings County Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flint, Billa 1805 births 1894 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada Canadian senators from Ontario Liberal Party of Canada senators People from Brockville Canadian magistrates