Talleyrand. The French Master of Intrigue's Involvement with the Area

[stephendare]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand-P%C3%A9rigord


Talleyrand.


Catherine (Worlée) Grant, Princesse de Talleyrand-Perigourd Gerard

The following passage is from the much mentioned History of Jacksonville
http://brokert10.fcla.edu/DLData/NF/NF00000013/00398.pdf
The dates are clearly referencing the grandson of the famous man, but there is provenance that shows the Talleyrand families experience was much older than the mid 1800s.

The first wheeled vehicle that Jacksonville could claim as strictly its own was a dray driven by a venerable colored man named Sam Reed and drawn by as venerable a mule named John. This combination not only did the draying for the town, but it was also the town hearse in the early 1850's.

The first wheeled vehicle that Jacksonville could claim as strictly its own was a dray driven by a venerable colored man named Sam Reed and drawn by as venerable a mule named John. This combination not only did the draying for the town, but it was also the town hearse in the early 1850's.

Rowboats supplied the place of carriages; otherwise the people rode horseback or walked. The rowboat came into its own for marooning parties and picnics under the trees on the banks of the beautiful St. Johns. The sulky and the buggy were here before the War Between the States; but the saddle horse as a means of getting about never lost its prestige. There was a spirit of sport involved in this, too, which attained such popularity that we find the Aldermen of Jacksonville in 1857 promulgating an ordinance prohibiting horse-racing on the streets of the town.

The omnibus and the street hack made their appearance soon after the war. Then came wagons and drays in number, and buggies and carriages for pleasure driving were without novelty on the streets; but one day in the winter of 1869-70 there drove into town a vehicle that caused the people to stop and gaze.

This outfit was a high two-seated surrey of the then latest type, drawn tandem by high-spirited perfectly matched bob-tailed bays whose harness shone with decorations like polished gold and was strung with bells like the sleigh-bells of the North. It was the hobby of Charles Maurice Camille, Marquis de Talleyrand-Perigord, who in 1869 bought the old Millwood place northeast of Jacksonville. He spent several winters here and always drove about in spectacular style. The Talleyrand section derives its name from him.

[stjr]

Stephen, trying to add all this up.

Per Wikipedia, Talleyrand of note died in 1838 with no legitimate children to carry forward his name.  So, how does he connect to one Talleyrand you have placed in Jax?  I don't understand these French appellations so I need help with the relationships.

Interestingly, the wedding announcement you reference mentions representation of Deutsche Bank which recently established a 1,000 employee U.S. center in Jax.  Where they trying to follow their ancestors to the "land of opportunity"? 

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Sovereign Prince of Beneventum (2 February 1754 â€" 17 May 1838) was a French diplomat.....

He left no legitimate children, though he is believed to have fathered illegitimate children. Four possible children of his have been identified: Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut, generally accepted to be an illegitimate son of Talleyrand; the painter Eugène Delacroix, once rumored to be Talleyrand's son, though this is doubted by historians who have examined the issue (for example, Léon Noël, French ambassador); the "Mysterious Charlotte", possibly his daughter by his future wife, Catherine Worlée Grand; and Pauline, ostensibly the daughter of the Duc and Duchess Dino. Of these four, only the first is given credence by historians.

[stjr]

Stephen, thanks for clarifying things and added the embellishments.  Verrrrrry.... intereeeesting!   Not just local history, but American and European.  Such a small world between all of us.

[stjr]

I wonder if there are any members of the Fatio or L'Engle or LeBaron families still here in Jacksonville.

Stephen, I did some googling and found the following, FYI:

Does anyone have any additional information about a Mr. F. F. L'Engle who was the Chairman of the Duval County Commissioners here in Jacksonville FL in the 1880's? He was also a prominent attorney and the Drill Master for the Florida Confederate Soldiers' Camp of Instruction in Tallahassee during the Civil War. I am interested in learning more about his life. I am constructing a web site about the Florida Confederate Soldiers buried at Old City Cemetery, Jacksonville. If you have any information (a photo/portrait would be ideal, but a family story handed down or a reference to a little known publication would be great) please contact me at sebgela@yahoo.com. Thank you very much.

At: http://boards.ancestry.myfamily.com/surnames.lengle/4/mb.ashx

I'm looking for information about my great grandmother, Susan Fatio Daniel Knight, daughter of Emilia Isabel L'Engle (b. 1842), daughter of Susan Phillipa Fatio (b. 1807) and John Claudius L'Engle (b.1800). Does anyone have information about her or any of the people I have named here?
Thanks,
Marty

At: http://boards.msn.ancestry.com/surnames.lengle/5/mb.ashx/

Here is another L'engle with Jax roots per the UF library's papers:

Katherine Tracy L'Engle was born in Atlanta on May 19, 1892, the daughter of Camille Saunders and Carrie Hubbard L'Engle. Although Georgian by birth, her ancestral home was Jacksonville and her family had only recently moved from there on account of her father's business. As a child, she also lived in New York City. Among other schools, Tracy attended Rogers Hall in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was graduated from Wellesley College in 1915.

Following graduation, she pursued a career as an actress. This was interrupted in 1918 - 1919 by a tour of volunteer duty as a YMCA canteen operator for the American Expeditionary Force in France and the occupation army in Germany. Later she followed a variety of careers, acting radio broadcasting from New York and Jacksonville, encyclopedia editing, writing, directing amateur theater in Jacksonville, lecturing on fashion and giving dramatic readings. She lived variously in New York, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine.

In 1955, Tracy married William Mack Angas, whom she had known in Jacksonville in her youth. Angas was a retired U.S. Navy vice-admiral and the civil engineering chairman at Princeton University. The couple had been involved in a courtship years before. The Angas' lived in Princeton until the professor's death in 1960. Mrs. Angas apparently lived the remainder of her life in Jacksonville. The autobiography and the memoir, found in the Papers, are two first hand sources, but not entirely accurate, for information on Tracy Angas.....

....The third part of the collection includes memorabilia showing various aspects of Tracy's life. These includes her role in the 1924 drama, Roseanne, probably her biggest dramatic part, her participation in a historic dedication ceremony at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, various personal documents, and photographs. Excellent photographs exist of Tracy from the age of two weeks throughout the end of her professional life, approximately 1955, and one snapshot of her as a much older woman. In addition, there are family photograph of many members of the L'Engle family ranging from Captain John Claudius L'Engle (1800 - 1864) to her younger cousins and nephews. A photograph of her husband is included as are photographs taken by him when the couple visited sites in France where Tracy had served during the war.

See more at: 

[stjr]

How about a noted Jacksonville born painter and his notable painter wife?!!:

William L'Engle, Self Portrait, 1914,  Oil on Canvas

William J. L’Engle, Jr., was born in Jacksonville, Florida on April 22, 1884, a descendant of the Fatios, an historic name and prominent family. Francis Philip Fatio, Sr. (1724-1811), a Swiss native, brought his family and personal possessions to nearby St. Augustine and then developed his own plantation in Nueva Suiza, now known as Switzerland, Florida, on the St. John's River, about 8 years after Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in 1763. After obtaining a crown grant of 10,000 acres, Fatio imported materials from England and built a country estate where he lived the life of a frontier baron. The plantation buildings were destroyed during the East Florida patriot revolt of 1812, one year after his death. Bill’s great grandmother was Susan Fatio L’Engle, a direct descendant of Col. John Washington, George Washington’s great grandfather. Bill came from a family that had a distinguished military heritage; men from his family served in the Revolutionary War and later on the Confederate side in the Civil War. Another forbearer, William Johnson, was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1804-1834.
   
Bill attended Yale University and graduated in 1906 with a degree in naval architecture and was noted among his classmates for his skill as a draughtsman. He was also a star on the track team and held the mile record. After graduation, he inclined to the fine arts and attended the Art Students League in New York City. He then sought further artistic training in Paris. There, he spent 5 years studying at The Academie Julian with Richard E. Miller (1875-1943) and at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts with Jean Paul Laurens (1838-1924), and Louis Francois Biloul (1874-1947). In 1910, accompanied by friends and fellow artists Waldo Pierce (1884-1970), and George Biddle, (1885-1973), Bill travelled to Madrid, Spain. The young artists studied there and spent time at the Prado Museum copying paintings by the Spanish artist, Diego Velázquez. In 1914, William met the artist Lucy Stelle Brown, who had recently arrived in Paris at the Academie Julian. Soon thereafter, they were engaged and married. Their 1914 engagement photograph is at the top of this page.

Lucy Brown L’Engle was born on September 26, 1889 to an affluent New York City family. Her father, Charles Stelle Brown was a very successful real estate broker in Manhattan for over 50 years. The firm is still active today as Brown, Harris, & Stevens. Her mother, Lucy Barnes Brown was the first U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Champion in 1893. Lucy’s brother, former New York congressman Lathrop Brown, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s roommate at both Groton, a prep school in Massachusetts, and at Harvard University. They were such close friends that Lathrop was FDR’s best man at his wedding to Eleanor. Reportedly, FDR proposed to Lucy a few years before his marriage to Eleanor, however, Lucy declined. Instead of following a life in “high society” she showed early signs of a woman who possessed an independent mind, and chose a life devoted to the study of art. Family records indicate that Lucy may have visited Provincetown as early as 1909 to study with Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) at his Cape Cod School of Art. In 1911 she attended the Art Students League in New York City studying with George Brandt Bridgman (1864-1943), and others. In 1913 she furthered her studies in Paris at the Academie Julian where she studied with the cubist painter, Albert Gleizes (1881-1953)....

....They also wintered in St. Augustine, Florida where they became part of a very active art colony now known as “The Lost Colony”. Bill had a long family history in that area as he was born in Jacksonville and one of his ancestors, Louisa Fatio (pronounced: Fa-shee-o ) is a renowned historical figure in St. Augustine known for being the proprietor of the “Ximenez-Fatio House” from 1855-1875. According to the St. Augustine Record, 12th of April, 1942, Bill talks about his personal view of St. Augustine: “It is a place unique in the United States, an easy going place that has resisted misguided efforts of business to hold fast to its sleepy drifting charm. A place where contacts could be taken or left alone. A peace so necessary to any creative work”. (For more information on the artists of The Lost Colony you can go to Robert W.Torchia’s excellent book, The Lost Colony, The Artists of St. Augustine, 1930-1950, published by The Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida, 2001).
   
Some paintings of interest from this period that are found in the gallery are: St. John’s River, Bull Hiding, 1940, Lucy L’Engle; Castillo de San Marco, 1940, Lucy L’Engle; Yulee Navy Base, 1946, William L’Engle;. The 1950s were famous for abstract expressionism and Lucy and Bill both worked in that genre. Lucy produced a large body of lyrical abstract works with some quite spectacular results, such as: Abstraction, 1950; This Machine World, 1951; Abstract T, 1951; Les Alembiques, 1952.

Sample art works by William  (see more at http://www.lenglefinearts.com/william_lengle.html ):
St. Johns River - 1946



St. Augustine Lighthouse, Abstracted, 1954:



Lighthouse Nudes, 1954:



Yulee Navy Base, 1946:



Sample art works by Lucy:

St. Johns River, Bull Hiding, 1940:



Castillo de San Marcos, 1940:



See:  http://www.lenglefinearts.com/biographies.html

[stjr]

Tracy L'Engle was a poet, and apparently a woman ahead of her time.  Wonder if she is related to Madeline L'Engle, the author of A Wrinkle in Time?

How about this Madeleine?  Daughter of the above artists. I don't think it's the same, just a coincidence.  The writer was born in 1918 and apparently to different parents best I can tell from the internet.

...The couple’s first daughter, Madeleine, was born in Marseilles in 1915 during the family’s forced return to New York City due to the outbreak of WWI in France. They visited Provincetown in the summer of 1916 where Lucy continued to study at Hawthorne’s Cape Cod School of Art. Their second daughter, Camille, was born in New York in 1917.

A little more on the painters, L'engle:

After Bill’s death, Lucy donated a large number of William’s watercolors and pencil drawings from the 1930s of the Martha Graham Dance Troupe and Harlem nightclub scenes to the Lincoln Center Dance Collection, Museum of the City of New York, Cooper Hewitt Museum and the Staten Island Museum. When Lucy donated Bill’s pencil drawing, “Girls Dancing, Harlem”, 1930, to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. circa 1959, she summarized his career in a letter with the donation: “His whole life was dedicated to painting the rather romantic subject of life as he saw it, and representing the beauty of his surroundings â€" as well as showing his deep love for it in a representational and non-representational way”.

[Wacca Pilatka]

There's some detail on the L'Engle and Barnett families and the Barnett affair in the book "Barnett: The Story of Florida's Bank" by David Ginzl (probably available in some libraries and used book stores; I bought a copy from the Miami library system).

[stjr]

Here is another clip from a family tree with hundred or thousands of names:

http://www.billandcherie.com/genealogy/html/fam/fam12333.html

http://genealogy.billandcherie.com/html/fam/fam12332.html

And, the family has its own "museum" in St. Augustine apparently:

Fatio family homecomingbrings 130 people to old city

Special to The Record
latest update: Friday, January 30, 2009 at 11:39 AM EDT

Some 130 children and grandchildren descended from the Fatio family gathered last month at the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum for a Fatio Family Homecoming.

The event was hosted by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in The State of Florida.

Attending were descendants from the Dunham, L'Engle, Fleming and Hallowes branches.

Descendents came from 10 states: Connecticut, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, California, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia and Florida.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Louisa Fatio's acquisition of the Ximenez-Fatio House, the only historic house still standing in the United States. associated with the Fatio Family.Nadia Nightingale Allen, a fourth great-niece of Louisa Fatio and president of the organization, welcomed descendents.

She awarded ink sketches of the historic house to the following: The two oldest, John Pierce Ingle Sr., 94, of Penney Farms, and Mrs. Mason Daniel Barrett, 92, Greenwich, Conn.; the youngest attendee, Tyler Michael Frazier, age 4; of Baton Rouge, La., and Frank Fatio L'Engle, Oakland, Calif., who traveled the greatest distance.

Family members enjoyed tours of the historic house, met cousins, shared memorabilia and enjoyed lunch catered by O.C. White's Restaurant.

Featured guest, James G. Cusick, curator of special collections, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida, spoke on "The Origins of the Fatio Family in Florida,'' demonstrating the importance of Florida settler Francis Philip Fatio Sr. and his heirs.

The homecoming was the vision and result of three years of genealogical research by Leslee F. Keys during her tenure as executive director at the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum.

Keys provided an array of more than 50 presentation boards exhibiting thousands of names of family members.

Branches of the family displayed on the boards were color-coded with the name tags, making it possible for cousins to recognize their relationships.

Family members pledged to continue the research and the relationship with the museum.On June 5, descendants departed from the museum and crossed the St. Johns River to Hibernia on Fleming Island.

There they visited St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and cemetery, remnants of the plantation of Margaret Seton Fleming and her family.

This site is famous as the setting of Eugenia Price's book "Margaret's Story."

A small portion of patriarch Francis Philip Fatio Sr.,'s original 10,000-acre New Switzerland plantation, was available for viewing, also.

Now known as Alpine Grove, and owned by St. Johns County, this is one of the only sections not subdivided for development.

For information on the Fatio Family and in the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum, contact the museum at www.ximenezfatiohouse.org or 829-3575.

From: http://www.staugustine.com/stories/070605/com_3170451.shtml    

[stjr]

The Fatio's are affiliated with the Talleyrands.

I wonder if they might have originally been Italianate Swiss, because some of them travelled with the Talleyrand heirs when they became the Duc of Dino.  "Nueva Suiza"  is the italian for New Switzerland.

Such a fascinating history.

Stephen, I went back and re-read this thread.  Somewhere, I lost you (or couldn't find it) on the connection between Talleyrand and these other families (Fatio, L'Engle, etc.)  Help me out here.  How do they connect back to Talleyrand?

[stjr]

I found the Fatio family discussed in the heraldric site for the Talleyrands.  They moved with the Talleyrand's when the 4th duc of Dino went to the estate.  There are a few more lettres of order listed on various sites, but they are in French, so I didnt bother cross posting.  Similarly, the L'Engles and the LeClercs and of course the L'Enfants.

I knew all that french speaking would come in useful for something besides bodily functions and avoiding arrest one of these days.

So, for those of us less educated in the world of heraldry and the language of French, are these "friends" of the Talleyrands or blood descendants?  I will take your word as the "final" answer!

[Wacca Pilatka]

Thanks Wacca!

Anything details that stand out?

pp. 29-31 covers Madeleine's writings about her family.

"[Madeleine] described Bion [Barnett] as 'dominant, powerful, ruthless, charming, wicked, brilliant.'  She admitted, 'I could never write a biographical book about Grandfather.  He was a self-made man and a great man, and like all such he had the weaknesss which were the other side of his strength.  He hurt people, and the telling of his story would hurt more people." . . .

"Although he became a very cultivated, well-read individual, Bion never outgrew his rustic, frontier upbringing.  He remained an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and fishing.  He overcame his earlier injuries and, although slight of build, became an accomplished athlete.  As a young man, he won a marathon canoe race on the St. Johns River from Sanford to Jacksonville.  He won trophies for skeet shooting. . . . Bion would spend a large part of his later European "exile" playing golf in Scotland . . . Continuing to play into his eighties, he even managed to shoot scores less than his age.

"What made Bion Barnett so successful in fields as diverse as banking and golf?  He possessed incredible self-discipline.  Just as he overcame his nearly fatal leg wound as a youth, he later successfully fought several serious ailments seemingly through sheer will power and stubbornness.  Diagnosed with Bright's Disease, a potentially fatal kidney affliction, he cured himself by drinking vast quantities of Florida sulphur water.  He later developed serious heart problems when he was in his sixties.  Rather than rest, he began 'to go mountain climbing.  He would climb until he fainted.  When he came to, he would pick himself up and climb until he fainted again - a rather unorthodox way of curing a heart condition.'" . . .

"Bion's marriage was a stormy one.  His western ways, and his athleticism and sense of humor, initially had appealed to Caroline L'Engle.  Marital troubles, however, soon surfaced.  Their granddaughter Madeleine L'Engle wrote, 'It was not a happy marriage.  Mother said that between the South and the West there was always the barrier of the manner of living.'  Both were 'strong willed and dominant,' leading to much family conflict and eventually to Bion leaving his wife and living abroad for years.  As a result, Bion was absent from the bank for long stretches of time and left the day-to-day management to others.  There would be periods of uncertainty - even crisis - when Barnett, the controlling stockholder and unquestioned leader of the bank, was absent from the scene."

[Wacca Pilatka]

Further info from Ginzl p. 37:

"On January 10, 1911, one week after giving his brother power of attorney to handle his affairs, including 'to vote in any and all meetings of stockholders in such Companies in which I may be a stockholder, any and all shares to which I may be entitled to vote, and to represent me in all matters and things pertaining to my property interests in the United States of America,' Bion declined reelection to the board of directors. . . .

"Thus began a mysterious period for Bion Barnett, highlighted by long silences and only fragmentary clues about his activities.  While Bion's writings about the family history and early years of the bank are prolific and the basis for much that is known about this period, he remained strangely silent about events after the Panic of 1907 and the rechartering of the bank the following year.  In fact, he promoted the misconception of his continuous service to the Barnett National Bank, when actually he had no official connection to the bank (other than as a shareholder) from 1911 to 1917.

"Bion was fifty-three when he left the bank.  Perhaps health was a factor in the timing of his departure, since he contracted Bright's Disease at about this time and suffered a period of failing eyesight.  His decision certainly related to his failing marriage and his difficulties with his equally strong-willed wife, Lina.  A search of Jacksonville's city directories shows that Bion had moved out of their Riverside Avenue home by 1913, and one suspects perhaps even a few years earlier. . . .

"He disappeared from the city directories altogether in 1914 and began spending considerable periods of time abroad."

[Wacca Pilatka]

And a bit more on Ginzl p. 43:

"Bion spent most of the time overseas--in London, or in Scotland playing golf, or at his villa in Monte Carlo.  He traveled extensively, including a 1924 trip to Singapore and Hong Kong.  He remained estranged from his wife, Lina.  More importantly, Bion had found a new companion, the wife of a prominent Jacksonville citizen--scandalous behavior in those times, but something that a less intrusive press did not publicize.  Nevertheless, Bion Barnett was not welcome in polite society, at least not while Lina Barnett lived and maintained a highly visible involvement in the city with the YWCA, Traveler's Aid Society, and other civic causes."

[stjr]

Tracy L'Engle was a poet, and apparently a woman ahead of her time.  Wonder if she is related to Madeline L'Engle, the author of A Wrinkle in Time?

Stephen, the answer is YES.  They were cousins.  And, they all trace their descendants, along with the painter, William L'Engle, to the same John Claudius L'Engle and Susan Fatio.

By the way, recall this quote from above on William L'Engle which actually points to all of the Fatio descendants being "relatives" of George Washington!:

Bill’s great grandmother was Susan Fatio L’Engle, a direct descendant of Col. John Washington, George Washington’s great grandfather. Bill came from a family that had a distinguished military heritage; men from his family served in the Revolutionary War and later on the Confederate side in the Civil War.

From A Guide to the Tracy L'Engle Angas Papers at the University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections:

L'Engle Family (Genealogical Information)

Note: The genealogies of the Fatio and L'Engle families are given in Gertrude N. L'Engle's Collection of Letters, Information and Data on Our Family [Jacksonville?] 1951. The following information on the families of Tracy L'Engle Angas and author Madeleine L'Engle is extracted from vol. 1, pp. 137 - 138.
Box    Folder    Contents
4    1    

John Claudius L'Engle (Captain, U.S.A.) (1800 - 1864) m. Susan Fatio.
4    2    

William Johnson L'Engle (1831 - 1861) m. Margaret Madeleine Saunders (1830 - 1917).
4    3    

Caroline (Lina) Hallowes L'Engle (1859 - 1935) m. Bion Hall Barnett.
4    3    

Children: Madeline, William, Bion, and Donald.
4    3    

Camille Saunders L'Engle (1857 - 1907) m. Carrie Hubbard (1861-1914).
4    4    

Myra Margaret L'Engle (1882 -) m. Earl Moore.
4    4    

Children: Margaret and Carolina.
4    4    

Camillus Saunders L'Engle (1884 - 1946) m. Gertrude Wilson Champlain.
4    4    

Children: Camillus, Mary.
4    4    

Edith L'Engle (1886 - 1951) m. Francis Robin Graham (1878 - 1921).
4    4    

Children: John, Camillus, and Francis Robin.
4    4    

Francis Philip Fatio L'Engle (1887 -) m. Madge T. Banigan.
4    4    

Children: Elizabeth, Margaret.
4    4    

Katherine Tracy L'Engle (1892 - 1986) m. William Mack Angas.
4    4    

Madeleine Saunders L'Engle (1894 - 1897).
4    4    

Carolyn Louise L'Engle (1900 -) m. Wallace Lewis Cassell.
4    4    

Madeline Hall Barnett (1881 -) m. Charles Wadsworth Camp.
4    4    

Children: Madeline.
4    5    

Madeleine L'Engle Camp (1918 -) m. Hugh Franklin.
4    5    

Children: Josephine, Bion Barnett.

From: http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:NlIMay0OCckJ:www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/Angas.htm+Charles+Wadsworth+Camp&cd=94&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[stjr]

John Claudius L'Engle (Captain, U.S.A.) (1800 - 1864) m. Susan Fatio.

is there any further information about earlier generations?

Stephen, there is this in the full "George Washington" quote posted previously on William L'Engle:

William J. L’Engle, Jr., was born in Jacksonville, Florida on April 22, 1884, a descendant of the Fatios, an historic name and prominent family. Francis Philip Fatio, Sr. (1724-1811), a Swiss native, brought his family and personal possessions to nearby St. Augustine and then developed his own plantation in Nueva Suiza, now known as Switzerland, Florida, on the St. John's River, about 8 years after Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in 1763. After obtaining a crown grant of 10,000 acres, Fatio imported materials from England and built a country estate where he lived the life of a frontier baron. The plantation buildings were destroyed during the East Florida patriot revolt of 1812, one year after his death. Bill’s great grandmother was Susan Fatio L’Engle, a direct descendant of Col. John Washington, George Washington’s great grandfather. Bill came from a family that had a distinguished military heritage; men from his family served in the Revolutionary War and later on the Confederate side in the Civil War. Another forbearer, William Johnson, was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1804-1834.

And, you could always call the museum in St. Augustine mentioned in the family reunion story:

For information on the Fatio Family and in the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum, contact the museum at www.ximenezfatiohouse.org or 829-3575.

Welcome to the Ximenez-Fatio House Museum, one of St. Augustine's most authentic historic properties. The museum complex is located on Aviles Street, America's first platted thoroughfare, in the center of the city's oldest community, the Old Town area South of the Plaza. The property includes a ca. 1798 coquina stone House, the region's only detached Kitchen building, a reconstructed ca. 1802 Wash House and a new Visitor Center with state-of-the-art interactive exhibits and a Museum Store.

In 1939, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Florida (NSCDA-FL) acquired the property for use as its state museum house. The NSCDA-FL joined with the National Park Service, State of Florida, Carnegie Foundation and other groups to initiate St. Augustine's historic preservation program.

Today the house stands as one of the best preserved of the three dozen colonial buildings remaining in St. Augustine. The historic grounds of the museum date to St. Augustine's original town plan of 1572. Meticulous restoration and furnishings of period decorative arts and historical objects provide the setting for authentic portrayals of territorial life and early statehood in St. Augustine. The museum focuses on the property's role as a boarding house, representing one of the few socially acceptable business ventures for a 19th century woman.


In July of 2002, shortly after beginning the 10th archaeological dig on the grounds at the Ximenez-Fatio House, an extraordinary small cross (pictured at left) was retrieved from the tens-of-thousands of items in a trash pit. Treatment removed a dark patina of encrusted salts to expose the resplendent white bronze material and fine details. Named for a hillside town in southeastern Spain, this Caravaca Cross is believed to have become popular in the 17th century to celebrate the end of the plague. St. Augustine City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt said, "I've never seen a cross like this one. They have been found in the Southeast, the Caribbean and in Canada, but not here -- until now."

Found with ceramic artifacts made about 1650, this relic dates to a time when the settlement's population was about 500 hearty souls. John T. Powell, educator and conservator said, "an absolutely outstanding find. Whoever had this was a person of some means. This is in the top 10 or 20 percent of rarity. You just don't find something that intricately made." ... Order a replica.

The Ximenez-Fatio House was used as a site for the filming of Florida: The 27th Star, an educational video about Florida's territorial period (1821-1845) produced in honor of the state's sesquicentennial in 1995 by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Florida.