admin THOMAS TINDLE. To no citizen of Buffalo can the appellation of industrial captain be applied with more propriety than to Thomas Tindle, of the firm of Tindle & Jackson, who are believed to be the largest operators of their kind in the world. In the vast enterprises built up by Mr. Tindle, Buffalo is utilized as a distributing center and an executive point from which to direct the commercial end of the industry.
Mr. Tindle comes of a family well known in Yorkshire, England, where his ancestors were farmers for several generations. William Tindle, his grandfather, was the father of eight children: Thomas, John, William, Francis, Eleanor, Elizabeth, George, and Robert. Thomas Tindle, Sr., the father of Thomas Tindle of Buffalo, was a farmer. He married Mary Scott, a daughter of Jonathan and Ann Scott, of whom the latter was of Holland ancestry on her father’s side. The children of Thomas Tindle, Sr., were: Frances, William, George, Thomas, Ann, and Marmaduke.
Thomas Tindle was born at Broomfleet, Yorkshire, England, April 7, 1836, and was educated in the common schools. When fourteen years old he began working on his father’s farm, where he remained until he was nineteen. In 1855 he came to this country, settling in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and later going to Western Canada, where he was engaged in farming from 1856 to 1859. On returning to New York, he bought a farm in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., where he resided till 1865, when he removed to Oswego, N. Y., where he engaged in the forwarding business. On the removal of the firm to Buffalo, Mr. Tindle became its manager. Two years later the concern was dissolved, and Mr. Tindle obtained employment with Toles & Sweet, canal forwarders, who were also among the largest dealers in cooperage stock in this section of the State. With this firm Mr. Tindle remained twelve years, as purchasing agent and salesman, the connection terminating January 1, 1880.
In the winter of 1880 Mr. Tindle began business for himself, as a jobber, a few months afterward purchasing a stave mill in Canada, and beginning the manufacture of cooperage stock, but having the headquarters in Buffalo. Soon he extended his interests to other Canadian mills. His enterprises prospered, and he continued to conduct them till 1886, thereafter for some years devoting himself wholly to the jobbing industry. In 1888 he associated with him as partner his son-in-law, Willis K. Jackson, under the firm style of Thomas Tindle & Co. This period was an important era in Mr. Tindle’s affairs, the business growing so rapidly that it became necessary again to engage in the manufacture of the stock dealt in by the concern. The steps taken to meet this necessity formed the beginnings of the great mill system now controlled by the firm of Tindle & Jackson in Michigan. To utilize the timber supply, the partners erected stave and saw-mills in several towns of that State, including Saginaw, Bellaire, Thompsonville, Gaylord, Nessen City, Freeland, Pellston, and Munissing. The firm have their own railroad to convey timber from the forests to the mills, and cut the greater part of the lumber sent to the saw-mills to be made into lumber, staves, heads, and other stock. Waste is avoided by every device known to the modern economics of manufacture. The combined industries furnish employment to about 1,000 hands, and the annual trade amounts approximately to 11,500,000. Aside from its central office at Buffalo, the firm has a branch office for marketing purposes at Minneapolis.
Mr. Tindle is a member and trustee of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Methodist Union. For over thirty years he belonged to the A. O. U. W.
April 5, 1856, Mr. Tindle married Harriet Braithwaite of Ogdensburg, N. Y. Mrs. Tindle was born at Broomfleet, Yorkshire, England, which was also Mr. Tindle’s birthplace. The surviving children are: Annette, now Mrs. Willis K. Jackson, who was born in 1861, and Prank T., born December 16, 1869. Mr. Frank T. Tindle is connected with his father’s firm. In 1893 he married Clara M. Boyce, daughter of C. W. Boyce of Buffalo. Their children are: Harriet M., Mildred A., Clara F., and Frank W.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I