Joseph Flitner Jr. (1808-1850) was given command of the brig Enterprise no later than October 1832, when he was twenty-four years of age. In the following year, while sailing from Baltimore to Bermuda with a cargo of “flour, meal, corn, oxen, sheep, &c” he encountered a capsized merchant vessel from which he rescued a young boy and returned him to his home in Bermuda. Instead of receiving a hero’s welcome, Captain Flitner was served with a summons to appear in court, where the owner of the capsized vessel accused him of taking a large sum of money from the vessel.

Susan E. Flitner, wife of Francis William Flitner, wrote this article, which was published in The Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder in 1889. The article provides a genealogy of four generations of the Flitner family in America, beginning with Zacharias Flitner’s arrival in Boston around 1764 and his settlement in Gardinerston, Maine. In addition, the article includes brief biographies of Zacharias Flitner and these descendants: Benjamin Flitner, born 1768; Francis Flitner Sr.

The Flitner Family article in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder says that Zacharias Flitner arrived in Boston from Germany around 1764. However, there is evidence that he lived in Quebec as early as 1762, serving as provost marshal in the British army. Zacharias Flitner in Quebec (PDF)

Born in 1808 in Pittston, Hiram Hanover was a grandson of Zacharias and Lucy (Colburn) Flitner, and a son of Hannah Flitner and William Hanover. Hiram moved to Texas in 1838 and became an important figure in Texas history. His biography in The Handbook of Texas Online can be accessed on the website of the Texas State Historical Association. Contributed by: David Hanover, Tyler, Texas, great-great grandson of Hiram Hanover

Abstract In 1835, when Francis Flitner Jr. was 28 years old, he became captain and part-owner of the schooner Warsaw built that same year in Gardiner, Maine, across the Kennebec River from his home in Pittston. Among his crew of six were five local men between the ages of 16 and 21, including his cousins Samuel Cutts Flitner and Oliver Colburn Jr. The Warsaw’s first documented voyage, from New Haven, Connecticut, to Barbados, began on November 19, 1835.