 The town was located near the small city of St. Marks, Florida.In June 1827, only 6 years after Spain ceded Florida to the United States, four brothers from Maine, John, George, Nathaniel and Weld Hamlin founded the town of Magnolia on the St. Marks river just north of the existing town of St. Marks.The Ladd family also married into the Hamlin family and helped settle the new town of Magnolia.