John PINNEY

Submitted by Descendant:  William E. PINNEY

John Pinney was born May 1813 in Baltimore, Maryland.  He followed the sea from the age of fourteen and ultimately became a sea captain, successful merchant and property owner in Pensacola, Florida.

He arrived in Pensacola about 1834 on the U.S. Vandalia, an 18-gun–of-war sloop.  He soon began to engage in trade an property accumulation.  Captain Pinney married Miss Mary J. Mealy on 12 July 1838.  The couple, along with their one-year old son, John Louis Pinney, was residents of Escambia County, Florida in 1840.  John and Mary had four children, all born in Escambia County:  John Louis, Samuel Leo, Rebecca and Laura Pinney.

By all accounts, Captain Pinney was an outspoken, independent business man who was a loving and generous father.  Reportedly, he owned as much as 13,000 acres of land in Pensacola, and Escambia County.  Among his properties were the Pinney Building located on Commendencia Street, where he had his office, and his home located on the northeast corner of Government and Alcaniz Streets.

John Pinney died 31 May 1892 in Pensacola and is buried at St. John’s Cemetery in that city.

John Pinney was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 2007