The George Washington Foundation believes the Washington and Lewis families’ story is worth protecting for future generations. We are in contact with many descendants of the Washingtons and Lewises who have assisted the foundation in presenting the families’ legacies by adding to our collections and archives. We decided to explore the ancestors and descendants interesting tales and life accounts, using the artifacts and documents in our collections as a starting point.   

The first person in our spotlight is Catherine Dangerfield Willis, who was born in Virginia, lived on the Florida frontier, became a historic preservationist, and became a Princess of the Second Empire because of her Washington relation.

Virginia Native and Washington Descendant

Catherine Daingerfield Willis was born in Fredericksburg in 1803. She was the daughter of Colonel Byrd Charles Willis and his wife Mary (née Lewis) Willis. From her maternal family side, Catherine was the great-granddaughter of Fielding and Betty Lewis and the great-grandniece of George Washington. (Glenn, 2014)

Catherine married Atcheson Gray at an early age, around 13 to 17 years old; accounts vary. The newlywed couple resided at their father-in-law’s house, Wakefield (yes, George’s birthplace). (Unknown, 2004)  Sadly, their marriage was cut short when Atcheson died of malaria less than a year after their union, along with their first child. (Bellet, 1976)

The Florida Frontier

After being widowed, Catherine and her family moved south to Tallahassee, the recently christened capital of the Florida Territory (Florida didn’t become a state until 1845) (Gannon, 2003). It had previously been an important Apalachee settlement which had been abandoned after it was burned to the ground by Andrew Jackson in 1818 during the first part of the Seminole Wars. (Smith, 2023) When Catherine and her family took up residence in Tallahassee in the 1820s, it was a rough place and had a reputation as an outlaw frontier town. Men carried guns and knives to protect themselves from the many duels, brawls, and knife fights that were common in the city. The eminent Ralph Waldo Emerson (a noted friend of Prince Murat) traveled to Tallahassee in 1827 and called it “a grotesque place…rapidly settled by public officers, land speculators, and desperadoes.” (Downes, 1956)

The less-than-stellar reviews of the city didn’t stop the Legislative Council from building three crude log huts for their official meetings. (Gannon, 2003)  There was even the establishment of a city police force in 1826 to combat lawlessness. The police force consisted of only one guy, a City Marshal, but it still counts. (Tallahassee Police Department, 2023)

In this primitive but developing city, a love story blossomed between Catherine and an exiled French prince.   

A quick look at the tumultuous life of Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat

Achille Murat was born in the Hôtel de Brienne in Paris to Caroline Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Berg, Queen of Naples, and sister to Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French  By 1815, after his uncle’s second exile and the execution of his father Joachim Murat, the family fled to Austria. (Burnett, 1996)

When Achille turned twenty-one, he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York and immediately applying for naturalization. (Niles, 1823)  Additionally, he renounced all European titles and citizenship. (Brandon, 1944)  Before long, he made his way down to Florida to get in on some of the land deals in the newly acquired territory. His first stop was St. Augustine, where he purchased land and established a plantation called “Parthenope,” which utilized slave labor to grow oranges, sugar cane, cotton, and tobacco. (Roberts, 2004) (Bellet, 1976)

While in St. Augustine, he developed a reputation for being a little eccentric. He liked to sit naked in the local Moses Creek during the sweltering Florida summers. (Hanna, 1948)  He was obsessed with eating all different kinds of animals, like turkey buzzards, owls, alligators, and rattlesnakes. (Roberts, 2004)  Finally, he disliked bathing and changing his clothes while living in a humid subtropical climate, and he “washed his feet only after he wore out his shoes.” (Hanna, 1948)

Shortly before he met and married Catherine, he purchased another plantation named “Lipona,” which would be his primary residence in the US until his death. 

A Marriage Between the Bonaparte’s and Washington’s and Entertaining Europe

In 1826, Catherine Daingerfield Willis Gray married the ex-prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Achille Murat. Catherine’s father was initially against the match because of the Bonaparte and Murat families’ opposition to the union. Luckily, the Bonaparte’s and Murat’s were made aware that Caroline was the great-grandniece of George Washington, and the family warmly welcomed her. (Bellet, 1976)

The couple lived at Lipona outside of Tallahassee until the July Revolution of 1830 in Paris when Charles X abdicated, and Louis Philippe was selected as King. The Murats traveled to Europe as Achille tried to press claims to restore the families’ money and lands, but he failed. (Bellet, 1976)  The couple moved to London, where they spent a few years in high society. Catherine became a favorite of Louis Napoleon (who would become the first President and then Emperor of France, Napoleon III). While in London, Catherine even attended and was given a seat in Westminster Abbey for the coronation of William IV of the United Kingdom. (Bellet, 1976)

Return to America

Around 1835, the pair returned to America and set up residence just outside New Orleans, where Achille attempted to run a sugarcane plantation and practice law, both of which failed. (Hare, 2002) . They returned to Florida to their plantation Lipona, which he had mortgaged to the bank and subsequently lost due to nonpayment, requiring the couple to move to a smaller property. (Hanna, 1948) 

Achille died in 1847, leaving his widow in a precarious financial situation, having acquired massive debt during his life. After the death of her husband, Catherine purchased a cotton plantation named Bellevue (now part of the Tallahassee Museum). She successfully managed the property and, after ten years, had paid all of Achille’s debts. (Sandler, 1999)

When Napoleon III became Emperor in 1852, Catherine was pronounced French royalty and Princess of the Second Empire, which granted her an annuity from the French government and allowed her to use the livery of France. (Bellet, 1976)

Preservation and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association

In 1853, Ann Pamela Cunningham founded the Mount Vernon Ladies Association (MVLA) to preserve and restore George Washington’s Mount Vernon. There had been other failed attempts by owner John Augustine Washington to sell the property to the US government and the state of Virginia, and even vile rumors of it being looked at by “speculators” to turn it into a resort hotel. Seeing the state of the property belonging to one of the most beloved founding fathers, Cunningham was able to make a deal with Washington after much discussion to sell the property (house, outbuildings, and 202 acres) to the Association for $200,000 (around 7 to 8 million dollars today).  (West, 1999)

To raise money, Cunningham created a nationwide network of women by appointing one lady from each state as a vice regent to assist in fundraising. (Grabitske, 2004)  In Florida, the daughter of the territorial governor, Ellen Call Long, was asked to become the state regent. She declined but suggested Catherine because of her family ties and influence. Catherine enthusiastically took on the role of vice-regent. She raised $3791.25, which was no small feat, with the entire population of Florida in 1860 being 144,424 people. (United States Census Bureau, 2021)  The MVLA raised the funds and paid off the purchase price within two years despite The Panic of 1857 and the economic recession just before the beginning of the Civil War. (Casper, 2008) (Huston, 1987) Mount Vernon was saved and continues to be owned and maintained by the Association, as it is overseen by a board of regents of ladies from 27 states. (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2024)

The Final Resting Place of an American Princess

Princess Catherine Murat died in August 1867 at her plantation, Bellevue. She is buried beside her husband, Prince Achille Murat, in the Tallahassee Episcopal Cemetery. They had no children.

Heather Baldus

Collections Manager

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References

Bellet, L. P. (1976). Some Prominent Virginia Families, Volumes 1-2. Clearfield.

Brandon, E. E. (1944). A Pilgrimage of Liberty. Lawhead Press.

Burnett, G. (1996). Florida’s Past: People and Events That Shaped the State. Pineapple Press.

Casper, S. E. (2008). Sarah Johnson’s Mount Vernon : the forgotten history of an American shrine. New York: Hill and Wang.

Downes, A. J. (1956). The Legendary Visit of Emerson to Tallahassee. The Florida Historical Quarterly, 334-338.

Gannon, M. (2003). Florida A Short History. University Press of Florida.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon. (2024). About Mount Vernon. Retrieved from George Washington’s Mount Vernon: https://www.mountvernon.org/about/

Glenn, J. (2014). The Washingtons. Volume 1: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch. Savas Publishing.

Grabitske, D. M. (2004). First Lady of Preservation: Sarah Sibley and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. Minnesota History, 407-416.

Hanna, A. J. (1948). A Prince in Their Midst: The Adventurous Life of Achille Murat on the American Frontier. University of Oklahoma Press.

Hare, J. (2002). Tallahassee: A Capital City History. ‎ Arcadia Publishing.

Huston, J. L. (1987). The panic of 1857 and the coming of the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

Niles, H. (1823). Niles’ Weekly Register, p. 272.

Roberts, D. (2004). Dream state : eight generations of swamp lawyers, conquistadors, Confederate daughters, banana Republicans, and other Florida wildlife. New York City: New York: Free Press.

Sandler, R. (1999, October 23). The Princess Who Saved Mount Vernon. The Free-Lance Star, pp. 3-4.

Smith, S. (2023, Apirl 1). Exploring Tallahassee’s April History Day By Day. Retrieved from WFSU Public Media: https://wfsu.org/local-routes/2023-04-01/exploring-tallahassees-april-history-day-by-day/

Tallahassee Police Department. (2023, December 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallahassee_Police_Department

United States Census Bureau. (2021, April 26). Historical Population Change Data (1910-2020). Retrieved from United States Census Bureau: https://web.archive.org/web/20210429012609/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html

Unknown. (2004, November 27). Grand mansion is lost to time. Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States of America: The Free-Lance Star.

West, P. (1999). Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America’s House Museums . Smithsonian Books.