Daughter of Julia Tuttle Gets Married in 1897

Frances, only daughter of Julia Tuttle, gets married to Charles Conrad Saunders in the Fort Dallas Barracks building on the Tuttle property on April 12, 1897.

Cover: Frances and Julia Tuttle on April 12, 1897, in front of the Fort Dallas Barracks. Courtesy of HistoryMiami Museum.

On April 12, 1897, Frances Emeline Tuttle, daughter of Julia Tuttle, married Charles Conrad Saunders on the grounds of her family’s property in downtown Miami. The ceremony was conducted in the Fort Dallas barracks, also referred to as the Slave Plantation building, and was officiated by the Reverend E.V. Blackman, who gave the City of Miami it’s nickname as ‘The Magic City.’ The building in which Frances and Charles were married still stands but was moved from its original location to Lummus Park (Miami) in 1925. The Tuttle property stood at what is now occupied by the Hyatt Convention Center in downtown Miami.

Frances, or also referred to as Fannie, moved to the future City of Miami with her mother and brother in 1890. A little more than a year after Fannie’s wedding, her mother, Julia, passed away suddenly. The matriarch’s Will left her entire estate to Harry and Fannie.

Figure 1: Frances and Julia Tuttle, along with Julia’s mother, in Cleveland during the 1880s. Courtesy of Florida State Archives.

As part of an agreement between the siblings, Harry controlled the family homestead in downtown Miami, and, against his mother’s original intentions, subdivided the parcel of land into a development called Fort Dallas Park. Julia envisioned that the parcel of land that Harry developed into the residential subdivision would ultimately remain in the Tuttle family for future generations.

Figure 2: The entrance to Fort Dallas Park subdivision, looking north, in 1910. Courtesy of HistoryMiami Museum.

This quarter became one of Miami’s earliest upscale neighborhoods, and later, during the real estate boom of the 1920s, became an apartment and hotel district. Fort Dallas Park was bounded midway between SE Second and Third streets to the north, SE First Avenue to the East, South Miami Avenue to the west, and the Miami River to the south.

After her wedding day, Fannie moved to Nassau, Bahamas, which was her husband’s hometown. Although she would periodically travel to Miami to visit with old friends and check on family investments, Fannie lived most of her adult life in Nassau before moving back to Miami in 1936. After returning to Miami, she lived at 399 NE 82nd Terrace in Miami until her passing at her residence on May 18, 1943, at the age of 75. She was survived by her son and three daughters, as well as her brother Harry and his family.

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