Great Floridians 2000

Louisa Fatio

(1797 - 1875)

Louisa (Maria Philipa Patricia) Fatio was the oldest of seven children of Francis Phillip Fatio, Jr., (1760-1831), a settler at New Switzerland on the St. Johns River west of St. Augustine. She was a lifelong resident of Florida, having been born on the family’s 10,000 acre plantation.

During the 1812 Patriot War, the Fatio family narrowly escaped death as their home was burned to the ground. They evacuated upriver to Fernandina where they lived until 1816. From 1816 to 1822 they occupied a plantation at San Pablo (Mayport). The family returned to New Switzerland and rebuilt the plantation house between 1822 and 1824. Louisa was educated to assist in running the household as her step-mother was frail. In 1832, following division of the property into two 5,000 acre tracts, she assisted in operating the northern parcel. Also, she helped care for and educate numerous nieces and nephews after the deaths of her sisters.

In 1836 after Seminole Indians burned the plantation house, she moved into St. Augustine and began operating a boarding house. "Miss Fatio was already a popular and established boardinghouse keeper, known for the fine table she kept as early as 1839 at a house rented from Kingsley B. Gibbs on the bayfront, and by 1850, at another rented establishment on south St. George Street." She was a successful businesswoman, purchasing the property at 22 Aviles Street in 1855. For the twenty years of her ownership and operation, the Fatio House was highly regarded as one of St. Augustine’s outstanding inns. Distinguished visitors included Abijah Gilbert, who served as a Reconstruction senator from Florida in 1866 and nieces of James Fenimore Cooper, including Constance Fenimore Woolson, an accomplished author herself.

Louisa Fatio was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church throughout her residency in St. Augustine. She died in 1875 and was buried at New Switzerland in the Fatio family cemetery.

Marker location
The Ximenez-Fatio House, 22 Aviles Street

Website for the Ximenez-Fatio House
http://www.oldcity.com/ximenez

 

 

 

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