Chapter 20. CHILDREN OF WILLIAM MILLS AND MARY ANN MCINTOSH MILLS OF ST.AUGUSTINE AND SAVANNAH

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1 Chapter 20. CHILDREN OF WILLIAM MILLS AND MARY ANN MCINTOSH MILLS OF ST.AUGUSTINE AND SAVANNAH Of the children of William Mills and Mary Ann Mcintosh Mills, previously listed, four sons and one daughter reached maturity: I. William John Mills,the eldest, was the first Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, and was also Senator from East Florida. There are numerous references to him in Florida history. He was a vestryman and senior warden of St. John s Episcopal Cathedral in Jacksonville. He is referred to i.n several places as being from Amelia Island, which is Fernandina. He later aoved to Texas and then to California. He had two daughters. James M. Kimbrough, III has a sword given to his mother (Elizabeth Mills Kimbrough) by one of the daughters. This sword was given to great Uncle Willilm John Mills by the City of Jacksonville. He had three daughters and one son. II. Charles Ferdinand Mills married Elizabeth Cope of Savannah, daughter of Adam Cope. (See the Cope Family) They never had any children. Great Uncle Charles died in 1875 and Great Aunt Elizabeth in 1901, leaving one of the largest estates ever held in Georgia up to that time. A copy of her Will may

2 be found in Chapter SO. They are buried at Bonaventure. III. Thomas Roderick Mills married Elizabeth Green Tufts in Savannah on October 1, He was named for his grandfather, Roderick Mcintosh. He was in business with his brothers Charles and James. His five sons who reached maturity were: Charles Gardner, Thomas Roderick, William Martin, John Blakely, and James Mcintosh. (More information on them follows hereinafter.) IV. Maria Ann Mills was the daughter of William and Mary Ann Mcintosh Mills. She evidently dropped the name Agnes as shown in the Baptismal records or the translation or original entry is in error. She never married and died in Griffin at the home of her nephew, Charles Gardner Mills, on June 1, 1879, and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery on the Charles F. Mills lot. V. James George Mills married Henrietta Maria Cope, halfsister of Elizabeth Cope, who married his brother, Charles Ferdinand Mills. (See chapter on the Copes.) For some reason, James George's name is not included with those of the other children in the Cathedral records. we have seen some notes prepared by Cousin George Obear which state that James George Mills was born at St. Mary's, Georgia. The inscription on his tombstone in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, however, reads as follows: 94.

3 "JAMES G. MILLS Born at St. Augustine, Florida January 8, 1811 Died Claughton, England Sept. 24, Ile is reported to have died from an attack which occurred while listening to a speech in Parliament while visiting one of his daughters, Fanny Mills Joynson, who lived in England. He was the youngest of the children, which may account for the fact that he was not baptized in the Cathedral. The story has come down in the family that James George, feeling himself a burden to his family, ran away to sea at the early age of fourteen. He had no further schooling and educated himself while a seaman, with the result that in due time he be- came a Captain. In 1845, when he was thirty-four years old, he was Captain of the ship "Scotland". Later on he owned, with his brothers Charles and Thomas, the ships "Georgia", "Consul", and "Florida". Pictures of these ships were at one time in the attic in the Thomas R. Mills, Jr.house on West College Street, Griffin, and may still be there. (The old Griffin Female College.) A newspaper story in the Savannah Morning News of 1851 tells of the "Florida" on her maiden voyage, as follows: DAILY MORNING NEWS Feb. 3rd, 1851 Savannah, Georgia "We chronicle the arrival of our port yesterday of a truly beautiful vessle, the largest American ship that ever entered our port. The

4 Florida is almost a three decker. She is 175 feet long, 36 feet beam and 23 feet depth of hold. She is among the f1eetest vessels afloat, having made on Saturday, 11 miles an hour all day without the least perceptible strain. "The Florida is principally a freight vessel, being 1,000 tons American measurements and of capacity to carry from 3,500 to 4,000 bales of cotton. She will also accommodate at least 42 cabin and 400 steerage passengers. "No expense has been spared in building this vessel. The mainmast alone, which is a single stick of Northern pine, 32 inches in diameter, was cut expressly for her and put in at a cost of at least $500. Nearly all the timber, however, is from Virginia and Georgia, where it was cut and sawed for the purpose. "The Florida is owned (except for a small share held by Col.Hutchinson, the builder) by Chas.Mills, Esq., of Savannah, and Capt.Jas.G.Mills also of this City who commands her. She hails from Savannah, and this being her home, though not her place of birth, we greet her with hearty welcome." Charles, Thomas and James G.Mills were large shippers of cotton to Liverpool. From accounts they were quite a factor in the financial life of Savannah. Among their interests was a stock ownership in the old Marine Bank of Savannah. These three brothers'views were broader than most Southerners, very likely because of their business interests and contacts abroad. When the War Between the States started, they were farsighted enough 96.

5 to realize that the South, with its inferior resources,was not likely to prevail in the end, and they accordingly endeavored to protect the solvency of the Marine Bank, whatever the outcome. Sterling exchange must have been difficult to obtain, but nevertheless, they succeeded in investing most of the funds of the bank in this mediwn through Baring Brothers of London, and as a result when the war was over and the Southern States, in general, in bankruptcy, this bank was able to pay off its depositors in gold. It is not known of any other bank in the whole of the Confederacy which even approached this. These three brothers were opposed to the War, accountable in some measure by the effect they knew it would have on their shipping and cotton business. Great Uncle Charles Ferdinand and his wife spent out the War in Europe; however, our grandfather Thomas Roderick Mills and the youngest brother, James George Mills, remained in Savannah. 97.

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