Julia Tuttle
Julia DeForest (Sturtevant) Tuttle was a landowner and businesswoman known as the Mother of Miami because she owned much of the land upon which modern Miami, Florida, was built and encouraged development of the city. She married Frederick L. Tuttle in 1867. The couple visited Miami to see her parents several times over the next couple of decades. Julia Tuttle's father, Ephraim T. Sturtevant, had settled with his wife on Biscayne Bay in Miami in 1875. The Sturtevant family arrived with the William Brickell family and settled at the mouth of the Miami River, but they soon quarreled and the Sturtevants moved a few miles north. Julia Tuttle's husband, Frederick, died in 1886. A few years later in 1891, Julia Tuttle bought Fort Dallas from the Biscayne Bay Company and relocated to Miami. She arrived in November 1891 via the schooner "Emily B." with her grown children, Harry and Frances. Over the next few years, she was a tireless campaigner for developing the region. She sent letters to Henry Flagler, John D. Rockefeller, and other investors encouraging them to participate in the development of Miami. She also bought or sought to buy thousands of acres of land on her own. She died unexpectedly before realizing her dream.
She did succeed in convincing James E. Ingraham. Tuttle had met Ingraham in Cleveland in 1890 and she had told him of her plans to move to Miami and encourage development there. She encouraged him to bring the railroad south to Miami, even promising him half of her lands. It is evident in the Expedition texts that Julia Tuttle was awaiting the arrival of Ingraham and party, so he probably had contacted her ahead of time. During the stay in Miami, Julia Tuttle and her son Harry gave Ingraham and party a tour of the Biscayne Bay region, including Cutler, Lemon City and Cocoanut Grove. She introduced them to settlers such as the Addisons, who showed their crops and land to the group. At the time, Ingraham was working for Henry Plant who ultimately decided not to extend his system to Miami, but soon after the Expedition he was hired by Henry Flagler. Tuttle, along with the Brickell family, promised land to Flagler and convinced Ingraham and Flagler to extend the railroad and hotel system to Miami.
- Birth: January 22, 1849, Cleveland, Ohio
- Death: September 14, 1898, Miami, Florida
Name Variations:
- Mrs. Tuttle
- Julia D. Tuttle
Sources:
- Lemon City: Pioneering on Biscayne Bay 1850-1925, Thelma Peters, 1976
- Biscayne Country 1870-1926, Thelma Peters, 1981
- "The Cleveland Connection: Revelations from the John D. Rockefeller - Julia Tuttle Correspondences," by Edward N. Akin, Tequesta, Vol. 42, 1982
- "The Birth of the City of Miami," by Larry Wiggins, Tequesta, Vol. 55, 1995
- Julia Tuttle, wikipedia.org
- Tuttle family papers and photographs, 1889-1954, HistoryMiami
- Findagrave.com
References in the Texts:
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For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015