Patrick Tonyn was a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 General who served as the second colonial governor of East Florida

East Florida

East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...

 from 1775 to 1783.

Tonyn was from a military background. His father, Charles Tonyn, was a Colonel in the 6th Inniskillen Dragoons. Patrick Tonyn became a captain in the 6th Dragoons in 1751, with which regiment he served in Germany in 1758 during the Seven Years War where, in 1759, the regiment fought at Minden

Minden

Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...

 and Wetter

Wetter

Wetter is the surname of: , German politician * Bruce Wetter, American novelist* Ernst Wetter , Swiss politician...

 with great distinction. Tonyn was made lieutenant-colonel of the 104th regiment in 1761.

Tonyn is generally described as a capable commander. During his tenure as governor of East Florida the colony enjoyed peace with the neighboring Indians, primarily due to his positive relationship with Ahaya the Cowkeeper

Cowkeeper

Cowkeeper, also known as Ahaya in Mikasuki , was the first recorded chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe. This was the name which the English used, as he held a very large herd of cattle.-Early life and education:...

, chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole

Seminole

The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...

 tribe.

Like most favored British officers, Tonyn received a large grant in the new colony—a 20000 acres (80.9 km²) tract in 1767. Fort Tonyn

Fort Tonyn

Fort Tonyn, named for General Patrick Tonyn , was located in present-day Nassau County, Florida, near the hamlet of Mills's Ferry. The fort was unremarkable in its day, seeing little action. It is remembered chiefly because it served as a way station in the only substantial campaign Florida saw...

, which was located in present-day Nassau County

Nassau County, Florida

Nassau County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 57,663. The U.S. Census Bureau 2008 estimate for the county was 69,835. Its county seat is Fernandina Beach, Florida....

, Florida, near the hamlet of Mills's Ferry was named after Tonyn, who served as East Florida's Royal Governor at the time of the American Revolution.

Tonyn was instrumental in bringing his brother-in-law planter Francis Levett

Francis Levett

Francis Levett was an English trader, who worked as factor at Livorno, Italy, for the Levant Company until he lit out for East Florida in 1769 where his brother-in-law Patrick Tonyn of the British Army had been appointed Governor of the English colony...

, an Englishman, to East Florida, and having Levett

Levett

Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...

 given a seat on the Royal Council. Formerly a merchant in Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

, Italy, working for the Levant Company

Levant Company

The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...

 in Constantinople and scion of a well-connected English merchant family, Levett took up a large grant in Florida, which he later abandoned in favor of Georgia, where he was one of the first growers of Sea Island cotton. Levett's son-in-law Dr. David Yeats served as Secretary of the province of Florida under Governor Tonyn.

Tonyn was involved in a fraud and deception trail at the Old Bailey

Old Bailey

The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...

 in May 1796. Henry Weston was indicted for forging his signature to transfer £5000. The Old Bailey records show that Weston, a young man with gambling debts, was sentenced to death.

Patrick Tonyn was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....

 in Northumbria

Northumbria

Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

and died in London on the 30th December 1804.

External links

• Julianton Plantation, Francis Levett Sr.
• http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum/index.cgi?noframes;read=58305