Thomas S. Hinde | |
|---|---|
 A rough sketch (the only known portrait of him) | |
| Born | Thomas Spottswood Hinde April 19, 1785 Hanover County, Virginia |
| Died | February 9, 1846 (aged 60) Mount Carmel, Illinois |
| Resting place | Sandhill Cemetery Mount Carmel, Illinois |
| Pen name | Theophilus Arminius |
| Occupation | Real estate entrepreneur Methodist Minister Author |
| Genre | Methodism Religious History |
| Notable works | The Pilgrams Songster Editor of The Fredonian Biography of William Beauchamp Biography of Thomas Hinde Biography of Mary Todd Hubbard |
| Spouse | Belinda Bradford Hinde(1809–1827) Sarah Doughty Cavileer Neal(1827–1846) |
| Children | James B. Hinde John M. Hinde Martha Hinde Edmund C. Hinde Charles T. Hinde Belinda Bradford Hinde |
| Relatives | Thomas Hinde(father) Mary Todd Hubbard(mother) Frederick Hinde Zimmerman (grandson) Harry Hinde (grandson) Charles H. Constable (son-in-law) Jacob Zimmerman (son-in-law) |
| Signature | |
 | |
| Military career | |
| Service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1812–1814 |
| Rank | Head of Prisoners |
| Battles / wars | War of 1812 |
Thomas Spottswood Hinde (April 19, 1785 – February 9, 1846) was an American newspaper editor, opponent of slavery, author, historian, real estate investor, Methodist minister and a founder of the city of Mount Carmel, Illinois. Members of the Hinde family were prominent in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois. His sons Charles T. Hinde became a shipping magnate and Edmund C. Hinde an adventurer. He was the father-in-law of judge Charles H. Constable.
Hinde was an active businessman, pursuing real estate, construction, and publishing opportunities in Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois. In his early years, Hinde publicly opposed slavery. He also used his newspaper, The Fredonian, in Chillicothe, Ohio between 1806 and 1808, to highlight issues about Indian treaties and the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. He served in the War of 1812. In later years he was a pioneer in the settlement of Indiana and Illinois, and the expansion of the Methodist Episcopal Church in these areas. He contributed to the Madoc Tradition and was a noted historian and biographer. Hinde cofounded the Wabash Navigation Company, which engaged in real estate speculation and dam construction. The company dammed the Wabash River next to Hinde's property, creating the Grand Rapids Dam. The dam was abandoned by the Federal government in 1931.
Hinde was an ordained Methodist minister and traveled extensively to advance the interests of the church. He was a pioneering circuit rider in the early 1800s in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Hinde wrote and published religious articles in many leading publications. Francis Asbury, one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, considered Hinde important to the church. He frequently met with him and mentioned him in his journals. Historian Lyman Draper spent more than twenty years collecting documents by and about the Hinde family, along with papers of other important figures of the Trans-Allegheny West. The Draper Manuscript Collection at the Wisconsin Historical Society holds 47 volumes of Hinde's personal papers, donated by his family after his death.