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He married, first, on Oct 8,1838 in Baltimore County,MD, Maria Bowen Whipple.

He married, second, at New York City,NY on Nov 3,1841, Elizabeth Mason Perry.

Children(by first marriage): Francis Vinton.

Children(by second marriage): Francis Vinton, Henry Gilliatt Vinton, Elizabeth Perry Vinton, Grace Vinton, Oliver Perry Vinton, Arthur Dudley Vinton, Frederick Betts Vinton, Ludlow William Vinton, Gertrude Vinton, Reginald Vinton, Raymond Perry Vinton, and Paul Vinton.

From Fourth Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, New York, June 12, 1873, published 1873 in New York by D. Van Nostrand, Publisher:

FRANCIS VINTON
No. 590 - Class of 1830
Died September 29 1872, at Brooklyn, N. Y., aged 63

Francis Vinton, D. D., D. C. L., LL. D., was born in Providence, R.I., on the 20th of August, 1809, and entered the Military Academy in June, 1826, the youngest of three brothers, all of whom graduated with distinction . The eldest, Major John R. Vinton, fell at the siege of Vera Cruz, March 22d, 1847. The second, Gen. David H. Vinton having spent a life of usefulness and honor in the military service, survived his younger brother only a few months, and by his death, added another distinguished name to the remarkable list of the departed graduates of the year 1872-3.

No one ever entered the Military Academy who at once more thoroughly appreciated the advantages of his position, or who more faithfully devoted himself to the work which he had undertaken, than did Francis Vinton. An industrious and conscientious student, ever ready on the lessons of the day, he yet found abundant time to devote to literary improvement and thus, even as a cadet, won a high reputation as a writer and speaker.

Graduated in June, 1830, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the 3d Artillery, and reported for duty at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, in the following autumn. Entering his name at the Law School of Harvard University, he resumed his studies with renewed vigor, feeling that his course at the Academy had just prepared him to begin to learn. Unremitting in his labors, while faithfully performing all his military duties, he undertook a thorough course of general literature, in which he found great delight, and on which he built the foundation of his future fame. Among the first in his understanding of the science of the law, he was unsurpassed by any in his powers of argument and debate. It seemed that in his devotion to this noble science, he was at the very outset, to take a high stand at the Bar, and to see fulfilled, in his earliest days, all his dreams of honorable success. He loved the science of the law, for which his mind and habits of thought were so admirably formed, and in these days of its earnest study, he laid up a store of its best principles, which served him well in his after career as a clergyman of the church.

But the orders of his superiors in the Army were soon to interrupt and eventually to overthrow all these well formed plans for earthly honors, and to turn the energies of his mind and heart into a far different channel. Unexpectedly detailed for engineer duty, he was obliged to suspend his studies and go where this duty called him. Returning to his regiment after an absence of two years, including a short service in the Creek country, he joined his company in Portsmouth N. H, and in 1834 was admitted to the Bar of Massachusetts. His thoughts, however, were now fixed upon a higher profession, and he never entered upon the practice of the law, for which he was so eminently fitted. Resigning his commission in 1836, he entered the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the city of New York. Here he was soon remarkable for his great devotion and untiring study, finding time, as ever heretofore, for other duties of his Christian calling, visiting the sick and sorrowful, ministering to the wants of the poor and doing his Master's work wherever it was to be found.

Graduating from the seminary, he was ordained to the ministry in 1839, by the Right Reverend Bishop Griswold, of Massachusetts. Without delay he entered upon the duties of his new profession in a small parish in his native State, but was not allowed to remain long in this humble position. His eloquence and self-sacrificing devotion to his pastoral work soon attracted attention and called him to other more important positions, first at Providence, then at Newport, and finally, in 1844, to the parish of Emmanuel Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., then feeble, but soon by his labors changed to one of the strongest and most prosperous, with one of the finest churches in the State, Grace Church, built under his own personal supervision, and filled by crowds of worshippers drawn not only by his eloquence, but by his earnest work from house to house, among the people of his adopted city. In the words of his friend and rector, Dr. Dix, for several years his associate minister in Trinity Parish, New York, 'he was instant in season and out of season, unwearied in visiting his flock, in ministering to all their needs, and in preaching the word of life, a shining example of all who witnessed his zeal and love for the Lord and His church.' Through called to other important parishes and once elected to the Bishopric of the Diocese of Indiana, he felt it his duty to decline, and to remain with the people whom he has so strongly attached to himself, and whom he ever loved as his own In 1852 he was warmly urged, and supported by a large number of friends, for the vacant Bishopric of New York. He failed of election by a few votes, much to the disappointment of many who believed that his talents, habits of order and discipline, well fitted him for this important position.

In 1855 he was elected an assistant minister of Trinity parish in the city of New York, and entered upon his work there with all his vigor and enthusiasm. In 1859 he was specially assigned to the charge of Trinity Church, and here he ever after felt he had reached his greatest field of action and usefulness. It was his just pride to render the services in this magnificent church, not only impressive but attractive, and such was his success, that on every Sunday the church was filled to its utmost extent, and few left the well ordered and solemn services without a better heart and more full impression of true Christian worship.

A few years before his death, he was appointed to the Professorship of Canon Law in the seminary whence he set forth on his ministry. Peculiarly qualified for a professorship of this kind, by his early study of law at Cambridge and by his habits of order and discipline acquired at West Point, his success in this new sphere was compete. A clergyman of the Church says of him: 'Dr. Vinton was the most dignified and respected professor with whom I ever studied. He was always thoroughly prepared for his recitations and lectures; and his treatment of his classes was such, that however much his students differed from him in their views, they were unanimous in their testimony to his kindness and impartiality.' In this connection eh prepared and published an able treatise on the Canon Law.

In the autumn of 1871, with failing health, he preached his last sermon in Trinity, and by advice of his physicians went to the island of Nassau, in vain hopes of improvement in that mild climate. Returning, the following spring, to his much loved home in Brooklyn, he lingered on through the summer of 1872, and until the 29th of September, when, surrounded by devoted wife and loving children, he calmly passed away.

Dr. Vinton was a remarkable man. With talents of the highest order, cultivated and trained by hard study; with an untiring energy and a determined will; with an eloquence of voice and manner seldom surpassed, he could not have failed of great success in any profession. With almost unlimited power of language, he was an eloquent speaker, a clear and logical debater, a magnificent reader of Holy Scripture, and again, to quote from the memorial sermon of Dr. Dix, 'was conspicuous in the councils of the Church, general and diocesan; in public meetings, which he often had occasion to address, and where he was heard with great attention and please; at the anniversaries of our charitable institutions, and in the social meetings and merry makings of the schools and similar organizations, where his manner and words always gave zest to the general mirthfulness.' Social in his disposition, he delighted in the society of the intelligent, and in this society was ever full of wit and playfulness, and yet at his own pleasant fireside in the midst of a loving and respecting family he ever found his greatest happiness, his most unalloyed enjoyment. He was a lover of children, and whether surrounded by them in the Sunday-school or joining in their sports on the play-ground, he was devoted to their instruction and happiness, and was with them a general favorite. He was the first to introduce the custom of Christmas tree festivals, for their amusement and reward, a custom now so extended in our country and popular with all denominations of Christians. He loved the Military Academy as his educating mother, and all things connected with West Point. Twice he was a member of the Board of Visitors, once its President, and in this capacity worked faithfully for the interests of the institution he so much venerated. He was among the first in efforts to organize our Association, and those present at our first two meeting well remember how much he contributed by his wit and humor to its success. Above all he loved his country, and in her darkest hours did all in his power for her honor and salvation, and when peace was restored he was among the most earnest in his efforts, by word and deed, to bring about forgetfulness of the causes and consequences of strife, and to cultivate anew a common love of a common country. (Professor Alfred E. Church, L.L.D.)"