The Fontaine Maury Society meeting for 2017 will be held this year in Franklin, Tennessee, on October 20-22. The meeting will focus on Franklin’s founder, Abram Maury (1766-1825), grandson of Mary Anne Fontaine and Matthew Maury, and Abram’s young cousin, Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873).
Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, the grandson of Reverend James Maury (1717-1769), was born in Virginia in 1806, but moved to Franklin with his branch of the family in 1811 to join up with cousin Abram Maury who founded Franklin in 1799. Coincidentally, October 20 is the 301st Wedding Anniversary of Matthew Maury and his wife Mary Anne Fontaine, October 20, 1716.
We have already reserved a block of room for us in the Holiday Inn Franklin-Cool Springs at a rate of $109 per room. It is located at 1738 Carothers Parkway, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027, 615-277-8700. Please be sure to tell them that you are with the Fontaine Maury Society to get the group rate.
Unfortunately John Grady, author of Matthew Fontaine Maury, Father of Oceanography, A Biography 1806-1873 (published in 2015 in Jefferson, N.C., by McFarland & Co., Inc., and available from Amazon.com) and former longtime Editor of the Navy Times, is no longer able to attend to speak about his comprehensive biography about the Commander but rest assured that we will have a keynote speaker who will enthrall us with details of the local family.
The historic Franklin Masonic Hall, the oldest public building in Franklin (1823) and one of only three Masonic Halls in the Nation listed as National Historic Landmarks, will serve as a base of operations throughout the weekend. Several Fontaine-Maurys were members of the Hall and we can view their names in the original ledger. Society member and organizer of our weekend, Russell Hooper, will also try to display some of his private collection of Fontaine-Maury papers, the largest such collection in private hands, at the Hall.
We are including an optional visit to the Tennessee State Museum in downtown Nashville to view Commander Maury’s bust. The museum is a 20 minute trip from Franklin. Another point of interest for us is the State Capitol in Nashville where a portrait of Maury is painted on the ceiling. We will be also visiting the Abram Maury Cemetery in Franklin where Abram Maury and other prominent Tennessee Fontaine-Maurys are buried.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, the Mother Church of the Diocese of Tennessee, is planning to host a cocktail event for the Society the evening of the 21st in Otey Hall. Commander Matthew Maury’s lifelong friend and teacher at the Harpath Academy in Franklin in the early 1800s, Bishop James H. Otey, founded St. Paul’s and established the Episcopal Diocese in Tennessee.
An option for Sunday for those who might have time would be a visit to Maury County, twenty minutes to the south where several prominent Maurys are buried at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Commander Maury’s mentor, Bishop James H. Otey, is also buried at St. John’s. Maury County was named in honor of Abram Maury in 1807.
Please complete the registration form below and mail it to the address provided!