William Brickell

During the Civil War, Brickell and his wife Mary, whom he met and married in Australia, lived in the White House while he worked as an aide to President Abraham Lincoln.

[1] In 1868, the Brickells purchased two tracts of land,[2] one of which stretched from Coconut Grove to the Miami River, which they purchased from Mrs. Harriet English and her brother Richard Fitzpatrick who had acquired it by grant from the King of Spain.

[1][2]: p.122  The family moved to southern Florida from Cleveland, Ohio, arriving by ship[1] in 1871.

The Brickells' neighbor, Julia Tuttle, also originally from Cleveland, is credited with attracting the attention of Florida's east coast railroad and resort hotel magnate Henry M. Flagler to extend his interests to the area.

Both Brickell and Tuttle contributed land to the Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway, which brought growth and development and put Miami on the map.