John Merriwether Tinsley (1783-1892) plaque, 2022.  

Plaque Text

John Tinsley was a Black man from Virginia who was born into slavery. Freed at age ten, he became one of Toronto's most prominent Black business owners.
Tinsley grew up working as a carpenter and a millwright. He married Douglas Dailey, a free Black woman, in 1811. They had several children. Tinsley visited Toronto in 1831, but returned to Virginia. However, in 1837 he moved his family to Cincinnati, where he opened a carpentry business.

Finding conditions for Black people no better in Ohio, the Tinsleys moved to Toronto in 1842. Tinsley purchased property in St. John's Ward. He built a pair of attached houses for his family near the corner of Terauley (now Bay) and Agnes (Dundas) Streets and started his own construction company. Tinsley added to his real estate holdings over time by constructing a series of cottages and tenements in the district.

Tinsley's construction company provided many freedom seekers with their first jobs in Canada. In the 1840s, a network of Black Torontonians, including Tinsley, began to establish organizations and job opportunities to support their community during decades of many social changes.

Working well into his 90s, John Tinsley made a significant contribution to the economic opportunities available to Black residents in Ontario.