While returning home one afternoon, John Floyd met Isabella Maria Hazzard on the road as she returned from school. Their relationship flourished. However, her aunt, Mrs. Sarah Hazzard Waight, had initially objected, claiming that Isabella Maria could do much better. Isabella Maria (pronounced Mariah) Hazzard had been born January 3, 1773 in St. Marys, Camden County, Georgia, the daughter of Richard Hazzard III of Beaufort District, South Carolina and Phoebe Loftin of then-British East Florida. Some believe she was born at Loftin House, just south of the St. Marys River in Nassau County, Florida. In any event, after her mother's death, Isabella was raised, educated and groomed for society by Mrs. Waight, her father's cousin, in Beaufort, South Carolina.