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

Part VII
The story of Mary Wallace Nuttall, sole descendent of her father, William, will bring this lengthy saga to an end. As a five year old child, she felt threatened by her mother’s second marriage and cried at the wedding. However, her insecurity was short lived as George Noble Jones, I was a kind and loving stepfather.
Mary was privately educated, and her strong interest in books and reading remained steadfast throughout her life. She is described as tall, slender and pretty, traits which are validated by surviving images. Her recreation in the early years was directed most often toward equestrian activities. The majority of her youth was spent in Savannah and Newport, R.I., with periodic international trips.
Perhaps embittered by her father’s early demise and ensuing turmoil, she had no desire to visit El Destino, referring to it as “little more than a snake hole and alligator pond.” Advancing into her late teens she, like her mother, attracted the strong attention of another member of the Jones family who frequented Newport.
Though younger than her stepfather, George Frederick Tilghman Jones, born in 1827,was actually his step uncle. To further cloud the family tree, George F.T. Jones later changed his name to George Wymberley Jones De Renne.

Highly educated, a scholar, historian and bibliophile, he inherited Wormsloe Plantation.
Mary Wallace Nuttall and G.W.J. DeRenne married in Newport on Oct. 21, 1852, and thus began the DeRenne dynasty which over three generations and, to the present day, has contributed more to the preservation and knowledge of Georgia history than any other family. While their efforts relate most notably to the history of Georgia, their research, publishing, preservation and gifting have encompassed broader subjects as well.
Mary Nuttall DeRenne took an active interest in her husband’s scholarly endeavors and, in her own right, collected an immense array of Confederate relics, records and manuscripts, including such rare items as General Robert E. Lee’s dispatches to Jefferson Davis and even the original Constitution of the Confederate states of America. The Mary DeRenne Confederate collection now resides in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va.

G.W.J. DeRenne died in 1880 followed by Mary’s death in 1887. From their four children, only one, G.W.J. DeRenne, II continued the DeRenne line which later joined the Barrow family of Savannah.

Today, Wormsloe, lying ten miles east of Savannah, is comprised of both a state owned historic site and the Wormsloe House, and gardens which are privately held by the Craig Barrow family. Had William Nuttall survived long enough to follow his daughter’s adult years, he would have been justifiably proud.

Intense ambition, energetic drive, courage, an innovative spirit and a gambler’s soul were traits shared by many of those who transformed frontier Florida into statehood. Fate was kinder to some than others but, it should be remembered that failure as well as success moves the needle of progress. While El Destino and Chemonie Plantations remain more or less intact today, tangible links to William Nuttall’s once prominent albeit brief role in the development of Old Middle Florida are relatively scarce. Ironically, his legacy is sustained by the attachment of his name to a tiny, remote community on the mysteriously beautiful Aucilla River. His dreams flowed on the fame and material fortunes of man but his life is immortalized in the rising waters of a great spring making their final passage to the Gulf of Mexico.

So ends the boy’s quest for knowledge of William Nuttall and, so the man acquires a metaphor for the journey of life.