Thomas Parsons Tainter

Thomas Parsons Tainter

• Father: Benjamin Tainter b. 22 May 1795, d. 1839
• Mother: Deborah Merritt b. say 1800, d. circa 1845

• Thomas Parsons Tainter was born on 20 July 1825 in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine.
• He married Josephine Caroline Brooks, daughter of Hiram Wheeler Brooks and Sarah Eason Mitchell, on 15 May 1851 in Florida.
• On Wednesday, 18 January 1860, Green Wood recorded in his plantation daily account book: "Mr. Tainter and wife from Apalachacola Florida came on a visit. Mrs. Tainter was Josephine Brooks & grand daughter of my sister Betsey Mitchell." And on Thursday, 16 February, "Mr. and Mrs. Tainter left."
• Thomas Parsons Tainter and Josephine Caroline Brooks appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Apalachicola, Franklin County, Florida. Other members of the household included Charles Brooks Tainter, Alice D. Tainter and Josephine Mitchell Tainter.
• He was a merchant, according to the 1860 census.
• A letter was addressed to Thomas P. Tainter, care of Messrs Carhart & Bro, New York, postmarked 10 April 1861 from Apalachicola, Florida. The sender is unknown; the address is not in the hand of wife Josephine.
• His wife Josephine Caroline Brooks became a widow at his death.
• Thomas Parsons Tainter died circa 27 April 1864 in Morris County, New Jersey.
• He was interred at Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey.
• The following appeared on 3 May 1864 in the Bangor Daily Whig & Courier: Died, in Morristown, New Jersey, 28th inst, of consumption, Thomas P. Tainter, formerly of this city, aged 40. Mr. Tainter went at an early age to Apalachacola, Florida, pursuing a very lucrative business as a merchant; where his failing health demanded that he should seek a more northern clime. He came North and located at Morristown, where he died.
• Following is an excerpt from a letter written by Thomas Tainter in response to a request for family information for History and Genealogy of the Descendants of Joseph Taynter, published in 1859: My father died suddenly in the summer of 1839, leaving my mother with a family of eight children, six boys and two girls. He had been engaged in active business as a merchant, the greater portion of his life, and was interested to a considerable extent in shipping. The financial storm of 1836-7, that swept over the country, making bankrupt three-fourths of the country, prostrated my father, and just as he was recovering from the blow, and the clouds that dimmmed the commercial horizon were breaking away before the sunshine of prosperity, his labors were arrested by death.
       Years have passed since that event, and from a child I have grown to manhood's estate, yet the scene is fresh and vivid in my mind. At his death, my mother was left with little to support her large family, and upon me, being the oldest boy, devolved the responsibility and care of mother, sisters and brothers. In this I was seconded nobly by a brother two years my junior. Unhappily he met a most untimely death. On his voyage home from Smyrna to Boston, he was lost over-board in the Mediterranean Sea, on the same day my mother died at home in Bangor. Previous to this, my oldest sister had died. My little brothers and one sister were left without a protector, but kind friends provided for them until my return the following year.
       I had left home immediately after my father's death, and was absent at the time of the decease of my mother and sister.
       At the age of sixteen I commenced life as a sailor, and for a few months sailed out of New York, but soon became tired of it and entered the office of a commission merchant, in N. York. In 1842, I came to Florida, where I have since resided with the exception of one year in New Orleans. For the last ten years I have been engaged in business as a merchant. Previous to that, I was clerk with my present father-in-law, in the commission and shipping business. I have a brother and a married sister living here. I enclose you a list of the names of our family, with all the facts that I possess, and regret that I am unable to furnish you with items of greater interest.

• Last Edited: 19 Mar 2013

• Charts: Descendants of WOOD William & Lydia Ballentine