John Lawrence Manning Tindal
1845 - 1916 

According to Walace History of South Carolina, John was postmaster of Manchester from 1867 to 1872.  However, his grandson, John Bailey Tindal, says that John Manning was station master rather than postmaster of Manchester.  He also stated that it was during this period that his grandfather changed the spelling of his last name from Tindall to Tindal.

The 1870 Census of the United States shows John living in Manchester Township.  It lists his occupation as merchant and indicates the value of his real estate at $2,000 and his personal property at $7,000.

On June 15, 1871, John sold to his wife, Sue, 11 acres of land which had been given to him by his father.  This land was on both sides of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad at the Manchester Depot.

According to Anne King Gregorie, on October 16, 1872, Major John M. Tindall defeated Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Coghlan, a popular and witty Irishman, in his bid for re-election.  Some time later, Deputy Sheriff E. H. Bateman was removed from office when he levied a town execution upon Governor Moses' roan horse.  Bateman accused Sheriff Tindall, J. N. Corbett (the town auditor), and Zack Walker (a Negro who had recently been appointed jury commissioner by Governor Franklin Israel Moses, Jr.) of rigging the jury list to exclude respectable white men.

According to Ms. Gregorie, Governor Daniel H. Chamberlain spent the night of August 19, 1876, as the guest of Sheriff Tindall.  Lewis P. Jones states that Governor Chamberlain was a Yale graduate, an able lawyer, and a polished gentleman.  He was the last of the Reconstruction governors (1874-1876).

In 1876, John won re-election on the Republican ticket.  That same year, he and Deputy Watson were arrested on a federal warrant and were taken to Charleston where they were held without bail.  No witnesses appeared to testify against them and they were released.  John served as sheriff of Sumter County for eight years.

The 1880 Federal Census shows Sheriff Tindall and his family living in the Town of Sumter on Liberty Street.  

According to Thomas McAlphin Stubbs, John joined Claremont (Masonic) Lodge some time between 1880 and 1891.  He remained a member until his death in 1916.  According to Wilma DuBose, Sue and John joined Providence Baptist Church in 1888.  For years, John served this church as Sunday School Superintendent.

According to the Wallace History of South Carolina, the plantation of John Manning Tindal consisted of 3,000 acres near Privateer and was part of the estate of his father John Boyd Tindall.  In 1893, John and his son, Drane, were doing business as J. M. Tindal and Son.  It was during this time that John was appointed a commissioner from South Carolina to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

The 1900 Census of Privateer Township, Sumter County, South Carolina, lists John M. Tindal, age 53, Susan S. Tindal, age 60, and Beulah Tindal, age 34.  Also listed were Lydia Amon (cook), age 17, Agnes Williams (servant), age 16, Harry Williams (servant), age 10, and Paul Williams, age 5.  According to the census, John was a farmer.  The census enumerator was Harry W. Cuttino.

In 1897, according to Wilma DuBose, John M. Tindal served on a committee along with W. L. Osteen, E. B. Hodge, James A. Hodge and W.  M. Broadway to ascertain the cost of building a baptistery and two dressing rooms and to solicit contributions. According to John Bailey Tindal, on special occasions John Manning Tindal would give silver dollars, fruit, or nuts to the children in the Providence Baptist Church Sunday School.

Sue died of Senile Dementia in Privateer Township, Sumter County, on December 12, 1915,  and John died of Apoplexy in Privateer Township in Sumter County, on June 7, 1916. John and Sue were buried in the cemetery at Providence Baptist Church. Providence Baptist Church appointed a committee to write a resolution and to erect a suitable tablet in John's memory.

Issue:

1.  Henry Drane Tindal was born in the Privateer section of Sumter County on October 25, 1863, and died in Sumter County on February 17, 1954.  On April 25, 1907, in Rockville, South Carolina, Henry married Mary (Eve) Olivia Bailey.  They are both buried in the cemetery at Providence Baptist Church.

2.  Mary Ida Tindal was born in the Privateer section of Sumter County on January 15, 1866.  She married Marcelus M. Seabrook (1843-1910).  Ida died on December 24, 1892.  Ida and Marcelus are buried in the cemetery at the Presbyterian Church on Edisto Island.

3.  Lydia (Liddy) Beulah Tindal was born in the Privateer section of Sumter County on January 15, 1866.  On April 9, 1902, she married her second cousin, Henry (Harry) Wells Cuttino (1868-1935).  Until 1919 they were active members of Providence Baptist Church where she played the organ and he was clerk.  Beulah died July 12, 1946.  They are both buried in the Sumter Cemetery.

Published sources:

An Historical Look into Our Church, by Wilma DuBose.

A History of Claremont Lodge No. 64, by Thomas McAlphin Stubbs.

History of Sumter County, by Anne King Gregorie.

Marriage and Death Notices From Baptist Newspapers of South Carolina 1835 - 1865, compiled by Brent H. Holcolm.

South Carolina, A Synoptic History for Laymen, by Lewis P. Jones, 1971.

[Descendants of John Boyd Tindal Tree]