Over
the next ten years George Stiebel lived happily at Devon House
with his wife Magdalene, and surrounded by his grandchildren.
The Stiebels also did an impressive job of holding lavish
parties for friends and family. It was no surprise then, that
they employed a large staff which reportedly included four
gardeners, two houses maids, a butler, cook, laundress, grooms
and coachman. Servants Quarters were located in the space
now used as the property’s commercial complex. Sadness,
again befell Devon House when Stiebel’s wife Magdalene
died in October 1892. Magdalene was buried at the St. Andrew
Parish Cemetery under a grey granite tombstone with a white
marble cross-wreathed in white marble flowers. It is said
that at the time Stiebel imported enough grey granite from
Scotland to bury his entire family. Tragedy continued to mark
the Stiebel family. In 1895 his grandson Douglas died of typhoid,
and only a week later his son in law Richard Hill Jackson
(who served as Mayor of Kingston) passed away.
The
new homeowners the Lindos brought back vitality and pageantry
to Devon House, and fancy dinner parties at Devon House were
widely discussed in Kingston and St. Andrew. Agnes Lindo became
known as a hostess with exquisite taste, and nothing was spared
when it came to financing entertainment at the Mansion. Funding
these lavish events never appeared to be a worrying factor
for Cecil Lindo who had become a very successful businessman
in Jamaica. He was known as a smart and savvy businessperson,
and made some wise investments early in life including investments
in the banana industry in Costa Rica, and the purchase of
J. Wray and Nephew and Monymusk Estate. He was also a railway
magnate and the owner of Appleton Estate and the wine and
spirit business Daniel Finzi and Co. Limited. Cecil Lindo
died of a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 89. He left Devon
House to his wife, but she did not remain at the home. Agnes
opted to live in New York following her husband’s death,
and it was then that developers approached her regarding the
sale of Devon House, to accommodate the construction of condominiums.
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