His father was Francisco Menéndez Márquez y Posada, royal treasurer (tesorero real) and co-interim governor of Spanish Florida.
Tomás's father and grandfather had held the position of royal treasurer of Spanish Florida for a combined total of 56 years.
Couriers carrying this order found two workers from the Menéndez Márquez ranch, a Spaniard and a Tabasco Mexican, on the road and killed them.
At the hacienda the Timucuas killed a Spanish soldier who had traveled with Juan Menéndez Márquez from St. Augustine and two African slaves that belonged to the ranch.
The next year his brother Juan purchased the office of royal accountant (contador real) for Spanish Florida[b] and Tomás resigned his commission and assumed management of the family ranches.
Construction of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine began in 1672, creating an increased demand for food for the workers.
Tomás Menéndez Márquez and his son Francisco founded or bought most of the ranches located between the St. Johns River and the Potano missions (in what is now western Alachua County).
In 1681, Juan de Hita Salazar, who had resigned a commission as Captain in the army to start a ranch in Potano Province, married Tomás and María's daughter Antonia.
They reached the la Chua hacienda at 2:00 AM and captured Tomás, his son-in-law Juan de Hita, and four servants.
Three Timucua chiefs ambushed the pirates and freed Tomás and Juan de Hita before any ransom was paid.
By the first years of the 18th century, raids by pirates, rustlers, and the English had severely affected ranching in Spanish Florida.
[24][25] One of the Florida treasury officials would travel to Mexico City each year to collect the situado, the royal funds allocated annually to support the presidio in St. Augustine.
Laureano de Torres y Ayala replaced Quiroga y Losado as governor later that year, and released Tomás.
Tomás's son Francisco Menéndez Márquez y Ruíz Mejía succeeded him and served as royal accountant of Florida for 34 years.