John Thomas Caine, Jr. son of John Thomas and Margaret Nightingale Caine, was born in Salt Lake City on March 9, 1854. He married Kathinka (Kinnie) Ballif in October 1878. They were parents of nine children, seven of whom reached maturity: John T. III, Lawrence B., George B., Alfred, Arthur, Blanche, and Kinnie.

Caine spent his early years in Salt Lake City working as a clerk for the Mormon Church-owned ZCMI Store. He attended the University of Deseret before traveling east to New York to study agriculture at Cornell University. Caine was the first Utahan to pursue the scientific study of agriculture.

After returning to Utah he moved to Logan and resumed his employment with the Logan branch of ZCMI, but continued his interest in agriculture. In 1883, Caine purchased pasture land and imported the first purebred Jersey dairy cattle to Cache Valley. In 1908, he purchased a large farm north of Logan, near Richmond, naming it Ballamoar, after the family's ancestral estate on the Isle of Man. Here, he continued his pursuit of scientific agriculture.

This interest made him a natural choice, when in 1888 the Board of Trustees of the newly founded Utah Agricultural College selected him to be the Board's secretary. Caine's abiding farming interest along with his experience at Cornell, made him the only man in the territory familiar with professionals trained in scientific agriculture. Caine was solely responsible for selecting and hiring the College's first director of experiments, and eventually the College's first President, J. W. Sanborn. He also recruited the institution's first faculty.

Caine remained at the institution he helped establish until his death on August 8, 1940. In addition to his position as secretary to the Board, Caine also served as professor of English, head of the preparatory department, registrar and auditor. He influenced the lives and career choices of countless students, who affectionately referred to him as “Pa” Caine.