William Neyle Habersham (1817-1899)
(William) Neyle Habersham, Madeira Wine Expert & Merchant, of Savannah
He was born at Savannah and educated at Harvard. He returned home and became a rice planter before taking over the family's commercial shipping firm, Habersham & Harris. However, he is best remembered as an expert on Madeira wine and some say he invented "Rainwater". He both collected and dealt in Madeira, gaining a reputation as the man to go to for the finest. He was also an amateur flutist and an authority on salmon fishing. In 1840, he married his cousin, Josephine Clay Habersham (1821-1893). They were both great-grandchildren of the Provincial President James Habersham, the first man to ship rice from the Port of Savannah. They lived at the Habersham House on Orleans Square and Avon Hall, their country home in White Bluff on the Vernon River. They had twelve children and seven survived to adulthood.
