The Willises Arrive in Tallahassee

The city of Tallahassee was chosen as the capital of Florida in 1824, just one year before the Willises arrived. This decision had a profound impact on the development and character of the town.

Tallahassee's selection as the capital was not without controversy. At the time, two other prominent cities in Florida, St. Augustine and Pensacola, vied for the honor of being the capital. However, the territorial legislators ultimately chose Tallahassee due to its central location within the state and its potential for growth.

The decision to establish the capital in Tallahassee sparked a rapid influx of public officials, land speculators, and aspiring politicians to the area. The town quickly became a hub of political activity, with government buildings and offices sprouting up to accommodate the new administrative center. This influx of political figures and government workers contributed to the town's growth and transformation.

Furthermore, the establishment of the capital brought about the creation of various institutions and amenities typically associated with a capital city. Schools, libraries, and cultural organizations were established to cater to the growing population, making Tallahassee a center of education and intellectual pursuits.

The Willises arrived in Tallahassee in 1825 and landed in a log cabin on Monroe Street, “south-west of the State House,” and “near the Cascades,” a group of small waterfalls that existed in Tallahassee at that time. The Cascades were filled in at one point in their history, and have only recently been partially restored and turned into a public park.

One early settler to the area observed the arrival of families of wealthy planters from Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, “seeking new lands to cultivate while being lured with extravagant promises of land speculation.” They went on to say that this type of pioneer was “always an aristocrat at heart, in spite of his effusions on the virtues of democracy.” These settlers were described as migrating with “his goods and provisions in carts, his Negroes on foot, himself and his family in a wheeled carriage or on horseback, encamping each evening along the way.”

The Willises settled in, meeting and making friends of the Tallahassee “elite”, as it were. Having had only been formally established in 1824, Tallahassee was very much a pioneer town, growing at a rapid rate. In 1827 Ralph Waldo Emerson would describe Tallahassee thus: “a grotesque place,… rapidly settled by public officers, land speculators and desperadoes.” He continued with one other detail – “What are called the ladies of the place are, in number, eight.”

Catherine, being one of the eight, was known as the Widow Gray and was considered very beautiful, with dark hair, fair features, and a small stature. Her wit, charm, and looks helped make her popular and brought her a great deal of attention from the many men of Tallahassee. She still found herself haunted by rumors of her “too-short” grief for Atcheson, although they did not damper her spirits.

Patsy Lee's earliest days in Florida are a mystery. It is known that there were cabins for enslaved people in the area. There was a growing Afridan-American community there in the 1960s, which was destroyed when it was filled in. These homes and those who lived in them are now memorialized just outside Cascades Park.

“Sketch of the Life of La Princess Achille Murat of Florida.” Harrisburg Telegraph. July 6, 1867. 1.

“Murat’s Romance.” Buffalo Evening News. March 2, 1882. 11.

McConnell, Matilda L. “Interesting Incidents in Life of Prince Murat.” The Tallahassee Democrat. June 8, 1922. 1, 8.

Smith, Julia Floyd. Slavery and Plantation Growth in Antebellum Florida 1821-1860. Gainesville, Florida: LibraryPress@UF, 2017. 

The Cascades Story, Cascades. Accessed April 23rd, 2023. https://cascadestlh.com/about/the-cascades-story.

“Plantations.” Plantations | LSU Libraries. Accessed April 20, 2023. https://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/research/manuscripts/guides/plantations?combine=&items_per_page=5&page=74.

Long, Ellen Call. “Princess Achille Murat, A Biographical Sketch.” Publication of the Florida Historical Society 2, no. 2 (July 1909): 27–38. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30138241.