Thomas Stinson was a Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

, banker, and landowner.

Early life and marriage

Stinson was born in 1798 near Drum, County Monaghan

County Monaghan

County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

In 1822 the Stinson migrated to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Briefly staying in Lockport, New York

Lockport (city), New York

Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

, he moved to Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 in 1826, settling in Clinton Township

Clinton Township

-Indiana:* Clinton Township, Boone County, Indiana* Clinton Township, Cass County, Indiana* Clinton Township, Decatur County, Indiana* Clinton Township, Elkhart County, Indiana* Clinton Township, LaPorte County, Indiana* Clinton Township, Putnam County, Indiana...

 in the Niagara Peninsula

Niagara Peninsula

The Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Southern Ontario, Canada lying between the south shore of Lake Ontario and the north shore of Lake Erie. It stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario in the west. The population of the peninsula is roughly 1,000,000 people...

. There he married Margaret Zimmerman, daughter of a Loyalist

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

 from the Beamsville, Ontario

Beamsville, Ontario

The community of Beamsville is part of the town of Lincoln in the province of Ontario in Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula...

 area.

Business career

The Stinsons moved to Hamilton in 1830 and established a dry goods, grocery, hardware and crockery business on King Street East in the "Stinson Block", the first brick business block in Hamilton. In 1831 he established a branch store in Dundas, Ontario

Dundas, Ontario

Dundas is a formerly independent town and now constituent community in the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. It's nickname is the Valley Town. The population has been stable for decades at about twenty thousand, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley...

.

He was an extensive landowner in not only in Hamilton, Ontario but as well as Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Superior City, Wisconsin

Superior, Wisconsin

Superior is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 26,960 at the 2010 census. Located at the junction of U.S. Highways 2 and 53, it is north of and adjacent to both the Village of Superior and the Town of Superior.Superior is at the western...

, which he named.

Stinson also established the Stinson Bank in 1847 on the corner of James

James Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

James Street is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at the base of the Niagara Escarpment from James Mountain Road, a mountain-access road in the city, originally was a one-way street going south throughout but now has sections of it that are two-way...

 and King William Street

King William Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

400px|thumb|Theatre AquariusKing William Street is a Lower City collector road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at the western-end at James Street North and is a one-way street until Mary Street, where it becomes a two-way street that ends at Wentworth Street North.-History:In 1922,...

 in Hamilton. It lasted until 1900.

He died 13 March 1864 at Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, and is buried in Hamilton Cemetery.

Tribute

The Stinson neighbourhood in Hamilton was named after him. It is bounded by Main Street East

Main Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

Main Street, is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts east of Wilson Street in Ancaster at White Chapel Cemetery as a two-way street and switches over to a one-way street at Paradise Road South, in Westdale, where it continues up to the Delta where it once again...

 (north), Charlton Avenue East

Charlton Avenue (Hamilton, Ontario)

Charlton Avenue, is a Lower City collector road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This collector road starts of just West of Dundurn Street as a one-way street up to James Street South where it then switches over to a two-way street the rest of the way eastward and ends at Wentworth Street South right...

 (south), Victoria Avenue South

Victoria Avenue (Hamilton, Ontario)

Victoria Avenue, is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off as a ramp and part of a Mountain-access road, the Claremont Access, on Hunter Street East in the Stinson neighbourhood...

 (west) and Wentworth Street South

Wentworth Street (Hamilton, Ontario)

Wentworth Street, is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off at the base of the Niagara Escarpment on Charlton Avenue East just before the CP lines as a two-way street for 2-blocks up past Cumberland Avenue up to Rutherford Avenue where it then switches over to a...

(east). Landmarks in this neighbourhood include St. Patrick's Roman Catholic church.