The great granddaughter of the owner of Verdmont in Smiths returns for the first time since the 1950s

By Jessie Moniz Hardy

A descendant of the last family to live at historic Verdmont in Smith’s visited the Island after a 61 year hiatus, and helped to shed new light on the old place.

Connie Maxson, great granddaughter of Stafford Nairn Joell (1846-1911), arrived in Bermuda by cruise ship with her husband, Kennon.

She was raised in the United States and last visited Bermuda in 1952 at seven years old with her brother, Granville, and mother Gladys Paultisch Wright.

Verdmont means “green hill”, and it was exactly the greenness that struck her as a child. She grew up in western Texas, which went through a long drought in the early 1950s.

“When we got to Bermuda, back then, it was like fairyland,” she said. “I grew up in Bandera, Texas. At that time it was going through a very long drought and everything seemed very dry and dusty.

“In Bermuda, everything was green and there were flowers. In the morning when the breeze came in through the bedroom window it smelled like perfume. I remember I went to the beach and stepped on a sea urchin.”

It was the first time she had ever seen salt water.

Verdmont was built three centuries ago for John Dickinson out of the proceeds of a pirate venture in the far off Indian Ocean.

The Joell family acquired Verdmont in 1872 when Stafford Nairn Joell married Emma Elizabeth Spencer who had inherited it from her uncle.

It was purchased from the Joell family in 1951 for £8,000 by the Bermuda Historical Monuments Trust, forerunner of the Bermuda National Trust.

So when Mrs Maxson first saw it, there was no one living there. She dimly remembered a cherry tree out back with delicious cherries.

Mrs Maxson’s mother, Gladys Wright, was the daughter of Emma Constance Joell and Fredrick Paultisch, an American. Mrs Maxson is named Constance, after her.

Mrs Wright was born overseas and was the youngest of three daughters.

Her mother, Emma Constance, became very sick and the family returned to Bermuda thinking it would be better for her health.

Sadly, she died soon after returning to the Island in 1910.

Mr Paultisch, a steel yard worker, went back to the United States leaving behind his three daughters to live at Verdmont with their aunts, Lillian and Irene (Dolly) Joell.

Mrs Maxson’s mother, Gladys, was just four years old.

“It was 1911 and he felt that he could not raise his daughters on his own,” Mrs Maxson said.

Eventually, Mr Paultisch remarried and his daughters gradually returned to the United States to live with him.

Gladys was the last to leave, but finally followed her sisters at the age of 14.

On this visit, Mrs Maxson took great interest in visiting the Verdmont attic, as she was told her mother and aunts slept there.

“There were other relatives in the rooms below,” she said. “As those rooms emptied out, because the occupants were mostly old people, then they moved downstairs.”

The Bermuda National Trust gave Connie some black and white photos of the Joell family and the house, and in turn, Mrs Maxson, gave the BNT a copy of an October 1945 letter sent to Mrs Wright by her aunt, Dolly Joell.

In this letter Miss Joell said that at one time there was an open wooden veranda along the entire south front of Verdmont.

This was something that the BNT did not know, and they are now looking to research.

While in Bermuda, Mrs Maxson also got to meet with some of her Bermuda relatives such as Alaine Joell Saunders and Sheena Tucker Trott.

“It was wonderful visiting Verdmont,” Mrs Maxson said. “I thought my husband might get bored, but he was impressed with it. It felt good.

Mrs Maxson said her mother didn’t talk a whole lot about her life in Bermuda, but she was very fond of her relatives on the Island.

Although she only brought the children once, she visited many times over the years.

“She always said it doesn’t matter who your ancestors are, it matters about the life you live,” said Mrs Maxson.

She said she has recently become interested in genealogy and has signed up for genealogy website www.ancestry.com. Her mother died in 2000.

“We have been going through some of the papers and things she had from Bermuda,” said Mrs Maxson. “I had always been fascinated with Bermuda.

“Mother inherited a china tea set from aunt Lillian (Joell) who owned the property. I have that now. I want to give it to my own daughter.”

She has one son, Keith, and one daughter, Karen.

She said she would like to come back for another visit to Bermuda, and next time stay longer and bring the rest of her family.

“Now that we have been here, I know my mother is happy in spirit,” said Mrs Maxson.