Francis Philip Fatio

Francis Philip Fatio (Spanish Francisco Phelipe Fatio) (1724-1811), born in Switzerland, was a soldier for France, a viscount in Sardinia, a merchant in London, and a prominent planter in East Florida during both the British period and the second Spanish period.

Francis Philip Fatio was born in 1724 in Vevey, Switzerland. He joined the Swiss Guard, and fought for France in the War of Austrian Succession. He later moved to the Kingdom of Sardinia, his wife's native land, where he was made a viscount. In 1759 Fatio joined his brother in commerce in London.

In 1769 Francis Fatio invested with two partners, Thomas Dunnage and John Francis Rivas, in plantations in East Florida. In 1771 Francis Fatio moved with his family to East Florida to become the managing partner of New Castle Plantation, which specialized in producing indigo. New Castle Plantation was located on the St. Johns River in what is now the Arlington neighborhood of Jacksonville. In 1774 Fatio moved to another plantation upriver (south) of New Castle, named New Switzerland in honor of Fatio's birthplace. (The site is now the community of Switzerland.) The New Switzerland Plantation consisted of 10,000 acres (4,000 ha). Fatio built a two-story house, 30 by 40 feet, at a cost of ₤800. The plantation also included a house for the overseers, a carriage house, a warehouse, workshops, and a hospital. Francis Fatio prospered in British East Florida. During the American Revolution he served as a staff officer with the British Army, stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. At the end of the war, when Florida was returned to Spain by Britain in 1784, Francis Fatio decided to stay with his plantation and become a subject of Spain. He bought out his partners and became sole owner of New Switzerland. Francis Philip Fatio now became Francisco Phelipe Fatio, and his plantation became Nueva Suiza.

Francisco Fatio immediately became an important person in Spanish East Florida. As the newly returned Spanish government in Florida was short of cash, Fatio supplied rations and clothing for the Spanish troops stationed there. Fatio then used the government's dependence on his supplies to engage in trade with the United States that exceeded the terms of the license issued to him by the Spanish government. Fatio had disputes with Spanish officials over the proper measurement of corn he sold to the government, his lack of cooperation with government inquiries, and his desire to participate in the trade with Native Americans, which was an official monopoly of Panton, Leslie & Company.

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