The Rise and Fall of William B. Nuttall A seven-part series – Part 6 of 7

Part VI
Newport, Rhode Island remained a favorite retreat for the Nuttalls because, on May 16, 1835, Mary gave birth to another daughter, Mary Wallace Nuttall, who would be the only child from her union with William to reach adulthood. Mary Wallace would never know her father because he died suddenly of apoplexy (stroke) on April 20, 1836 while mother and daughter were once again sojourning in Newport.

News of his death was conveyed by Hector Braden, who soon, with Mary’s approval took over the management of William’s estate. Several sources conclude that Nuttall died intestate, and that his estate was filed for administration, with Mary appointed as administratix. No doubt public records support the lack of a will and Mary’s appointment but a document is on file in the Jefferson County records which purports to be a very brief will. It is dated Aug. 17, 1835 in Albany, N.Y. and bequeaths all real and personal property to “my beloved and excellent wife” Mary W. Nuttall and appoints her executrix. It is attested as the handwriting of William Nuttall and filed of record in Jefferson County, Fla on April 16, 1844. The story behind this remains a mystery but whatever the truth regarding his will or lack thereof, William’s financial affairs were a disaster and the subject of litigation with his Father’s estate, his brothers, the Union Bank and a substantial array of other creditors extending well over a decade.

As previously mentioned, Mary initially looked to Hector Braden for advice and management, given his local profession and past investments with William. Subsequent events would later prove Braden’s motives were not entirely altruistic, and he initially did not reveal to Mary the insolvency of the estate. Most all of the estate’s assets were mortgaged, including El Destino, and other lands, the partnership interest in the LaFayette venture, slaves belonging to Mary and her mother and even the unharvested cotton crop. Braden’s management continued for a period of five years which must have been a constant shell game while he gave priority to the payment of Nuttall’s notes that he had personally endorsed. A bachelor at the time, he also competed with other suitors, including Richard Keith Call and Thomas Randall, for Mary’s hand in marriage.

In 1840 Mary inherited assets from an Uncle including eighty slaves which precipitated her purchase of Chemonie Plantation from Braden. By this time, Mary was often absent from Florida, visiting in Savannah and Newport, R.I. accompanied by her daughter, whom we will henceforth refer to as Mary Wallace. Having not succumbed to the attentions of her local admirers, and perhaps starting to sense her impending financial imbroglio, she looked homeward for male companionship. Given her upbringing and family’s social position in Savannah, it is hard to believe she was not acquainted with George Noble Jones or his family, which traced its ancestry back to the very founding of Georgia. Without question, the Jones clan was one of the most prosperous and esteemed families in the State. They were well educated, cosmopolitan and leaders in their chosen fields of endeavor.

Their ancestral home was Wormsloe Plantation, established in 1739, a portion of which, including a magnificent house and library, remain today in the possession of descendants. G. Noble Jones, the first, was born in 1811 and initially married Delia Gardener in 1834 who, like William Nuttall, died prematurely in 1836. Given their similar backgrounds, their common enjoyment of Newport and their respective loss of spouses in the same year, forces were surely at work in pulling them together. They were soon married in May of 1840. George is described as an engaging and capable man who generously provided services to kinsmen and friends. He was a sportsman, owning fine fowling pieces and pedigreed dogs and traveled extensively. At home, he maintained a cellar stocked with the best French wines.

As owner of a plantation in (ironically) Jefferson County, Georgia, he was experienced in the administration of agricultural operations larger in scale than El Destino. With the help of attorney, William Brockenborough, Jones soon applied his business acumen and resources to Mary’s tangled affairs in Florida. Circumstances there had become even more difficult in the midst of a deepening economic depression, a drought, severe storms and a yellow fever epidemic in the period spanning 1837 to 1842. Nonetheless, by 1845, Jones had purchased, at foreclosure, El Destino, most all of its slaves and other lands including those along the lower Aucilla River, acquired earlier by William Nuttall.

From this point forward, El Destino and Chemonie would be managed by overseers periodically reporting to the Jones family. These journals, starting in 1841 and running through the Civil War, and for a time afterwards, survived into the 20th Century and were eventually published as “Florida Plantation Records,” by Phillips and Glunt. They remain among the best records documenting plantation life and operation. George Noble and Mary had four children, George Fenwick, Wallace Savage, Sarah Campbell and Noble Wimberly. Only one, George Fenwick, married and sired descendants.

For a short time after the Civil War, Mary, G. Noble and Family lived on El Destino in the aftermath of Sherman’s destruction through Middle and Coastal Georgia. A letter from a descendant, written in 1984, offers a glimpse into this segment of their lives. It reads, “things were very primitive. Once, when they were isolated by high water and ran out of food, they tried to get through to Tallahassee by carriage. The water proved too deep but, on the way, they discovered a twelve pound black bass stranded in a puddle on the road, and that solved the immediate food problem.”

Mary died in Dieppe, France in 1869 and was buried there. G. Noble passed away in 1876, leaving the management of the Florida plantations to his son, Wallace, who was educated abroad and entered the U. S. diplomatic service, eventually serving as consul general in Rome, Italy. Upon his death in 1902, oversight of El Destino and Chemonie passed to his nephew, George Noble Jones, II, until he sold all the Florida holdings circa 1919. El Destino, alone, brought $70,000, a low price due largely to the onslaught of the boll weevil.