Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/146

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122
TIMS
TINKER

and it was never put into execution. His deli- cate health forbade active service in the field, but his pen was never idle. He was at the battle of Shiloh as war-correspondent of the Charleston " Mercury." In 1864 he went to Columbia, the capital of the. state, where he edited the " South Carolinian." He lost everything when the city of Columbia was burned in February, 1865. He said of himself that he and his family were brought to beggary, starvation, and almost death' — that they had eaten up all the family silver and nearly all "their furniture, and were reduced to despair. He writes in 1865 : " I would consign every line I have written to eternal oblivion, for one hundred dollars in hand." But the struggle against such fearful odds, with his failing health, proved too much for him ; life perceptibly ebbed away, and early in October, 1867, he died. His brother-poet and life-long friend, Paul H. Hayne, afterward published a volume of his collected works, pref- aced by a very pathetic sketch of his life (New York, 1873). The south has probably never pro- duced a poet of more delicate imagination, of greater rhythmic sweetness, of purer sentiment, and more tender emotion than this young man, who passed away before he had time or opportu- nity to attain that high standard of excellence which his undoubted genius fitted him to reach. His best-known poem is a short ode written for Memorial-day, 1867.


TIMS, Thomas Dillon, Canadian official, b. in Castle Pollard, Ireland, 6 Jan., 1825. He engaged for many years in commercial pursuits, entered the civil service of Canada in 1858, in 1863 was ap- pointed a commissioner to inquire into prison-man- agement at Montreal, and in 1865 became govern- ment superintendent of the engraving and print- ing of the first issue of legal-tender notes. He vis- ited Washington the same year on official business, and in 1867 reported to the government upon a financial system for the province of Quebec, and was placed in charge of Dominion affairs at Hali- fax. With other commissioners he was appointed in 1868 to inquire into the management of govern- ment railways in Nova Scotia. From 1868 till 1872 he was engaged in the organization of the financial department and savings banks in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and in 1872-'3 established branches of the finance department and savings banks in British Columbia and Manitoba. He was appoint- ed financial inspector for the Dominion in 1870, and is inspector of Dominion savings banks, and sub-treasurer and auditor of government railways.


TINCKER, Mary Agnes, author, b. in Ells- worth, Me., 18 July, 1833. She was educated at the high-school in Ellsworth, and at Blue Hill academy, embraced the Catholic faith at the age of twenty, and during the civil war nursed the sick and wounded in one of the military hospitals at Washington, D. C. Since 1873 she has lived in Italy. She has published novels entitled "The House of Yorke" (New York, 1872); " A Winged Word "(1873); "Grapes and Thorns" (1874): "Six Sunny Months" (1878); "Signor Monaldini's Niece." in the " No-Name Series " (Boston, 1879) ; " By the Tiber " (1881) ; " The Jewel in the Lotus " (1884); and " Aurora*' (1885).


TINGEY, Thomas (pronounced with g soft), naval officer, b. in London, England, 11 Sept., 1750 ; d. in Washington, D. C, 23 Feb., 1829. He served in the British navy, but came to this country be- fore the Revolutionary war, and owned ships that were engaged in the East India trade. During the war he served in the Continental navy. He was selected as one of the six captains that were appointed on the organization of the U. S. navy on 3 Sept., 1798, and given the ship " Ganges," twenty- four guns, with the " Pinckney " and " South Caro- lina, forming a squadron, 'to guard the Mona fassage in the West ndies during the war with France. During July, 1799, he captured the French ships " Le Vainqueur," " Le Rabateuse," " L'Eu- gene," and " L'Espe- rance." In the same year, while off Cape Nicola Mole, he was boarded by a boat from the British frig- ate "Surprise," and all the Englishmen on board were de- manded and also per- mission to examine

the protections of the

American seamen. Capt. Tingey answered: " A public ship carries no protection for her men but her flag. I do not expect to succeed in the con- test with you; but I will die at my quarters before a man shall be taken from the ship." The crew gave three hearty cheers, hastened with alacrity to their guns, and called for "Yankee Doodle." The captain of the "Surprise," on hearing the determination of the Americans, chose rather to pursue his course than to battle for dead men. Capt. Tingey was discharged under the permanent naval-establishment act, but was reinstated on 23 Nov., 1804, after which he had command of the navy-yard at Washington until his death. When the capital was captured by the British, in the summer of 1814, the secretary of the navy ordered Com. Tingey to fire the navy-yard, which, with the sloop-of-war " Argus," five armed barges, two gun- boats, and all the naval stores, was consigned to the flames. In this connection he writes to his daughter, under date of 17 Sept., 1814 : " I was the last officer who quitted the city after the enemy had possession of it, having fully performed all the orders received, in which was included that of myself retiring, and not to fall into their posses- sion. I was also the first who returned and the only one who ventured in on the day on which they were peaceably masters of it." For fifty years he was connected with the navy of this country and for nearly thirty years had command of the Wash- ington navy-yard.


TINKER, Reuben, clergyman, b. in Chester, Mass., 6 Aug., 1799; d. in Westfield, Chautauqua co., N. Y., 26 Oct., 1854. He entered a mercantile house in his native town in 1813, but afterward entered Amherst and was graduated in 1827, having supported himself during his college career by teaching and manual labor. He became a student in Auburn theological seminary the same year, and was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian church at Chester in 1830. Resolving to devote himself to foreign missions, he sailed for the Sandwich islands in December, 1830, and reached Honolulu on 28 June, 1831. He was chaplain for seamen at Lahaina until June, 1832, when he went with other missionaries on an exploring expedition to the Marquesas islands, with the view to founding missions. In 1834 he was appointed to edit a semi- monthly religious journal in the native language, which he did up to 1838. In 1840 he returned to the United States, where he had charge of a con-