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John Merryweather TINSLEY

Male 1783 - 1892  (109 years)


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  • Name John Merryweather TINSLEY 
    Birth 1 Jul 1783  Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID F20CC5933E83443483C63F6E80BC62658895 
    Death 5 Oct 1892  Toronto, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Burial 7 Oct 1892  Toronto Necropolis Cemetery and Crematorium Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Notes 
    • The following, which explains a lot about John, was copied from findagrave.com, where there's a photo of John M Tinsley's wife's gravestone:
      "Douglass Tinsley was the wife of John Merriwether Tinsley (1783-1892) who operated a major construction company in Toronto's St. John's Ward. This was the largely working class district between Yonge and University north of Queen Street. A free African American born at Richmond, Virginia, Tinsley could remember George Washington riding a white horse through the streets of the city. John M. Tinsley married Douglass Dailey in 1811. They had eight children *. The Tinsleys moved first to Cincinnati in 1837, probably to escape the strictures against African American life imposed after the 1831 Nat Turner Rebellion. They came to Canada in 1843 along with their married daughter and son-in-law, William J. Custaloe who was a shoemaker. Their first venture, a grocery at Albert and Elizabeth Streets, failed when Douglass Tinsley died suddenly. Her bereaved husband built a pair of attached houses for his family near the corner of Teraulay (Bay) and Agnes (Dundas) Streets and started his own construction company.

      For more information about the Tinsleys and life in African Canadian Toronto, see Karolyn Smardz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2007) and her newest volume, Steal Away Home (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2017)."
      * only some of them are documented here - I haven't properly identified or investigated the others. Most of the Public Member Trees at ancestry.com dealing with John M Tinsley mention only 4 children.

      1830 United States Federal Census: in Richmond Madison Ward, Richmond (independent City), Virginia, John TINSLEY, household comprising Free Colored Persons - Males - Under 10: 3. Free Colored Persons - Males - 10 thru 23: 1. Free Colored Persons - Males - 36 thru 54: 1. Free Colored Persons - Females - 10 thru 23: 2.Free Colored Persons - Females - 24 thru 35: 1. Free Colored Persons - Females - 55 thru 99: 1.

      1840 United States Federal Census: in Cincinnati Ward 1, Hamilton, Ohio, John M TINSLEY, household comprising Free Colored Persons - Males - 10 thru 23: 3. Free Colored Persons - Males - 24 thru 35: 7.Free Colored Persons - Males - 36 thru 54: 1. Free Colored Persons - Females - 24 thru 35: 1. Free Colored Persons - Females - 36 thru 54: 1. Persons Employed in Manufacture and Trade: 2. Persons Employed in Learned Professional Engineers: 2.

      John and his family moved to Canada in 1843 but I haven't found them in the 1851 Canadian Census.

      1861 Census of Canada: in St Johns Ward, Toronto, Ontario. The following are all believed to members of John's family, extended as it was by the marriage of his daughter to William J CUSTALOE. They are listed here in the order in which they appear on the census page. John M TINSLEY (carpenter, born Richmond, Va., Baptist, 78 widower), Eliz CUSTALOE (born Richmond, Va., Baptist, 46, married, mulatto), Wm. CUSTALOE (shoemaker, born Richmond, Va., Baptist, 49, married), Jno. TINSLEY (carpenter, born Richmond, Va., Baptist, residence Australia, 39, single) (entry crossed through - this would have been John Henry TINSLEY, who had emigrated to Australia in 1852), Jas D TINSLEY (carpenter, born Richmond, Va., Baptist) (entry crossed through), E D TINSLEY (painter & c, born Richmond, Va., 36, single), Jno. CUSTALOE (carpenter, born Richmond, Va, 28, single), Saml. CUSTALOE (chair painter, born Cincinnati, Ohio, 20 single), Alice CUSTALOE (tailoress, born Toronto, 19, single), Douglass CUSTALOE (born Toronto, 17, female, single), Reuben CUSTALOE (born Toronto, 10), Agnes CUSTALOE (born Toronto, 6), Sebston CUSTALOE (born Toronto, 3), Maria TINSLEY (born Toronto, 12) and Sarah TINSLEY (born Toronto, 10). Also Robt, SMITH (carpenter, born Louisiana, 23, single).

      Canada, City and Area Directories, 1819-1906 at ancestry.com:
      WC Chewett and Co’s Toronto City Directory, 1868-1869 includes John Mereweather Tinsley at 77 Agnes, Toronto, Canada.

      1871 Census of Canada: in St Patricks Ward, Toronto, Ontario, John TINSLEY (aged 87, born in USA, Baptist, origin Irish (sic), carpenter, widower).
      On the next but one page were Maria TINSLEY (41, born Ontario, Baptist, origin African, tailoress, single) and Sarah TINSLEY (18, born Ontario, Baptist, origin African, no occupation, single). I don't know whether they were related to John.

      1881 Census of Canada: in St Johns Ward, Toronto, Ontario, John M TINSLEY (aged 98, born in USA, Baptist, origin African, carpenter, widower).

      1891 Census of Canada: in No 7 St Johns Ward, Toronto, Ontario, John TINSLEY (aged 107, widower, born in USA, as were his parents, Baptist).

      Found at https://archive.btpl.org/Bloomfield-Birmingham%20Eccentric%20Newspaper/1892/10.%20October%201892/October%201892/Oct%2013%2C%201892%202.pdf:
      The Birmingham Eccentric (Birmingham, Michigan) of 13 October 1892 carried the following report:
      A Long-Lived Family
      John Merryweather Tinsley, a colored man, died in Toronto, Ont. Deceased was born in Richmond, Va., July 1 1783, and was consequently aged 109 years at the time of his death. He had three sisters, all natives of New Orleans. One, Mrs Nancy Kincaide, died seven years ago, aged 113; Mrs Agnes Purcell was 111 years of age when she died, and the remaining sister, Mrs Polly Jacobs, is at present living in New Orleans at an advance age.

      https://www.newspapers.com has a report from The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada of Monday October 17 1892 refering to John's death but I haven't looked at the article itself.
    Person ID I1892  North Suffolk, Suffolk
    Last Modified 20 Sep 2023 

    Family Douglass DAILEY,   b. Jul 1796, Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1844, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 47 years) 
    Marriage 19 Jul 1811  Henrico County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. Elizabeth "Betsy" TINSLEY,   b. Abt 1815, Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Feb 1884, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 69 years)
     2. James Dailey TINSLEY,   b. Abt 1820, Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1854, At sea Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 34 years)
     3. John Henry TINSLEY,   b. Abt 1822, Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Jul 1903, Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 81 years)
     4. Edward Dailey TINSLEY,   b. Abt 1825, Richmond, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1878, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 53 years)
    Family ID F646  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 28 Jul 2021 

  • Photos
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    A sketch of John Merryweather Tinsley, aged 107, copied from Karolyn Smardz Frost's book of 2017, 'Steal Away Home'.

    Documents
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    1861 Canadian census
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    1871 Canadian census
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    1881 Canadian census
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    1891 Canadian census
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    Newspaper report of death
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    John Merryweather Tinsley 1783 - 1892
    Document relating to the naming of a Toronto street after John M Tinsley

  • Sources 
    1. [S232] Burial register at Ontario, Canada, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1989 at ancestry.com.

    2. [S231] Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1740-1850 at ancestry.com.