Online Photo Collection


 
 
Gertrude Flint, 1886
1871 - 1917; married, 1891, Charles W. Townsend; parents: Edward Austin Flint and Lucy Whitwell Parker; lived at Carlton St., 205 Walnut St., and 35 Allerton St.

Gertrude is the older sister of John and Sarah Flint who also appear in this album. Sarah lived with Gertrude and her husband, Charles Wendell Townsend, on Marlborough St. in the Back Bay and was the maid of honor at their 1891 wedding (First Parish Church, Walnut St.) at which Roger Tileston and Henry Ware, also included in this album, were ushers. When Gertrude died in 1917, Sarah and Dr. Townsend married. The Flint’s grandfather was a prominent physician in Boston. Their father started as a second lieutenant in the civil war with the First Massachusetts Cavalry and was a major when he mustered out. He was a civil engineer who worked on projects around the world. Both John and Sarah were born in Peru, Gertrude in Oregon when he was working for the Northern Pacific Railroad. He died of pneumonia in 1886 when his children were young.

Prior to 1886, Edward Austin Flint and Lucy Whitwell Parker, their four children, Lucy's mother, and two of Lucy's siblings lived together on Carlton St. In 1886, Edward Flint died suddenly, of pneumonia. The oldest Flint child, William P., was starting at M.I.T., the three youngest are pictured in this album. The family moved to 205 Walnut St. and lived there from approximately 1886 to 1892. (The city directories of 1880s Brookline often listed addresses without house numbers. We are choosing 205 Walnut St. as the most likely location for "Walnut St. nearly opposite Walnut Place").