Patrick Tonyn

Patrick Tonyn (1725-1804) was a British General who served as the second colonial governor of East Florida from 1775 to 1783.

He became a captain in the 6th Dragoons in 1751, with which regiment he served in Germany in 1758 and was made lieutenant-colonel of the 104th regiment in 1761. Tonyn is generally described as a capable commander. During his tenure as governor of East Florida the colony enjoyed peace with the neighboring Indians, primarily due to his positive relationship with Ahaya the Cowkeeper, chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe. Like most favored British officers, Tonyn received a large grant in the new colony -- a 20,000-acre tract in 1767.^[1]

Tonyn was instrumental in bringing his brother-in-law planter Francis Levett, an Englishman, to East Florida, and having Levett given a seat on the Royal Council. Formerly a merchant in Leghorn, Italy, and scion of a powerful English merchant family, Levett took up a large grant in Florida, which he subsequently abandoned in favor of Georgia, where he was one of the first growers of Sea Island cotton.

Patrick Tonyn died in London on the 30th December 1804.