The Davis Family

PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

Jefferson Davis came from a long line of families of Welsh blood.

His Grandfather, Evan Davis of Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales and his wife Lydia Emory of the same place , was the first of the Davis family to come to America. One of their children was born in 1756 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died 4 July 1824 probably in Wilkinson, Mississippi and is buried in Hurricane, Mississippi. This man has Samuel Emory Davis and he married Jane Cook in Christian/Todd County, Kentucky about 1783 in Augusta, Georgia.

To this union came the following children:

1. Joseph Emory Davis, b. @ 1784 in Augusta, Georgia

2. Benjamin Davis, b. @ 1788

3. Samuel A. Davis, b. @ 1788

4. Anna Elizabeth Davis, b @ 1791

5. Isaac Williams Davis, b. @ 1792

6. Lucinda Farrar Davis, b. @ 1797 in Christian (later Todd) Co., Kentucky

7. Amanda Jane Davis, b. @ 1800

8. Matilda Davis, b. @ 1801

9. Mary Ellen Davis, b. @ 1805

10. Jefferson Finis Davis, b. 3 June 1808 in Christian (later Todd) Co., Kentucky.

Jefferson F. Davis was born 3 June 1808 in Christian (later Todd) Co., Kentucky. He died 6 December 1889 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was first buried on 11 December 1889 in New Orleans, Louisiana then later interred at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

His wife was Sarah Knox Taylor, born 6 March 1814 in Fort Knox, Missouri Territory. They were married on 17 June 1835 near Lexington, Kentucky.

He and his wife contracted malaria, she died on 15 September 1835 near St. Francisville, Louisiana.

Her parents were; Zachary Taylor, born 24 November 1784 in Montebello, Virginia and Margaret Smith, born on 21 September 1788 in Calvert Co., Maryland.

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States. He died in the White House, Washington, DC on 9 July 1850 and is buried in Springfield, Kentucky.

Their children were:

1. Anne Margaret Taylor

2. Sarah Knox Taylor

3. Octavia Pannel Taylor

4. Margaret Smith Taylor

5. Mary Elizabeth

6. Taylor Richard Taylor

President Zachary Taylor’s parents were Richard Taylor, born 1734 in Orange Co., Virginia. He died 19 January 1829 near Lexington, Kentucky. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Revolution Army. He married Sarah Dabney Strother on 20 August 1779 in Orange Co., Virginia.

They had the following children:

1. Hancock Taylor

2. William Dabney Strother Taylor

3. Zachary Taylor (12th President)

4. George Taylor

5. Elizabeth Lee Taylor

6. Joseph Pannill Taylor

7. Strother Taylor

8. Sarah Strother Taylor

9. Emily Taylor

Richard Taylor,( Lt. Col), parents were Zachary Taylor b. @ 1707 in Orange Co., Virginia and Elizabeth Lee, b. @ 1708 in Northumberland Co., Virginia. Zachary Taylor and Elizabeth Lee were married @ 1734 in Northumberland Co., Virginia

Their child was:

1. Richard Taylor, b. 3 March 1743 in Orange Co., Virginia

Zachary Taylor, (Grandfather of President Zachary Taylor), parents were James Taylor, b. 1673 in King and Queen Co., Virginia and died 23 June 1729 in Orange Co., Virginia. He married Martha Thompson 23 February 1699/00 in New Kent or King & Queen Co., Virginia. He was first generation Taylor to be born in America.

Their children were:

1. Frances Taylor

2. Martha Thompson Taylor

3. Zachary Taylor, b: 17 APR 1707 in Orange Co, Virginia

The above Frances Taylor married Ambrose Madison.

They had a son James Madison. James married Eleanor Rose Conway

James Madison and Eleanor Rose Conway had a son James Madison b. 5 March 1750/51. He married Dorothea Payne Todd in 15 September 1794. This James Madison became the 4th US President.

James Madison married Dorothea Payne Todd.

Jefferson F. Davis and Verina Anne Banks Howell

Verina Howell was born 7 May 1826 in Natchez, Mississippi and died 6 October 1906 in New York. She married Jefferson F. Davis on 26 Feb 1845 in Natchez, Mississippi.

Their children were:

1. Samuel Emory Davis b: 30 JUL 1852

2. Margaret Howell Davis b: 25 FEB 1855

3. Jefferson Davis b: 16 JAN 1857

4. Joseph Evan Davis b: 18 APR 1859

5. William Howell Davis b: 6 DEC 1861

6. Varina Anne Davis b: 27 JUN 1864

President Jefferson Davis was surrounded by many statesmen. He was a West Point graduate, a hero of the Mexican War and a Senator from Mississippi. There is no question how he felt toward the US Constitution and how it was written and to be carried out. He was a true patriot.

Samuel W. Dorsey’s widow, a very wealthy lady, died 1879, and left “Beauvoir”, the most beautiful place on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and her other possessions to Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Southern Confederacy. The Davis family were warm personal friends of Mrs. Dorsey and had been her guests frequently. The following is Mrs. Dorsey’s will, as published in the New Orleans Picayune:

“Beauvoir, Harrison County Mississippi, January 4 1878. I, Sarah Anna Dorsey, of Tensas Parish, Louisiana, being aware of the uncertainty of life and being now in sound health of mind and body, do make this my last will and testament, which I write, sign and seal with my own hand in the presence of three competent witnesses. As I Have property in the states of La., Miss. And Ark I owe no obligation of any sort whatever to any relation of my own. I have done all I could for them during my life. I therefore give and bequeath all my property,, real, personal and mixed, wherever located and situated, wholly and entirely without hindrance or qualification, to my most honored and esteemed friend, Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Confederate States, for his own sole use and benefit in fee simple forever, and I hereby constitute him my sole heir, executor and administrator. If Jefferson Davis should not survive me, I give all that I have here bequeathed to him to his youngest daughter, Varina. I do not intend to share in the ingratitude of my country toward the man who is in my eyes the highest and now blest in existence.”

The will was proved in New Orleans, July 15, 1879. Mr. Davis spent the remainder of his life, with his wife and daughter Winnie at Beauvoir, though he died in New Orleans. At his death all his property, by the terms of Mrs. Dorsey’s will, went to Miss Winnie, the “daughter of the Confederacy.” February 11, 1898, Miss Winnie, about to sail for Egypt, made her will, bequeathing everything, she might die possessed of to her mother, Varina Howell Jefferson Davis. Accordingly, at Miss Winnie’s death, Beauvoir and all her property became Mrs. Davis’s. In 1902, the Mississippi Division of the United Confederate Sons purchased the Beauvoir property for a Confederate Soldiers’ home. The deed, signed by Mrs. Davis, bears the date October 10, 1902.

Jefferson Davis, President Confederate States of America, is so well known, history is full of his achievements, but we cannot refrain from mentioning something of his home life. It is said that with his family and friends around him “he was seen at his best, and that best was the highest point of grace and refinement that the Southern character has reached.” Jefferson Davis took his university course in Lexington, Kentucky an old Transylvania University, where so many Southern boys were educated. It’s gratifying to note the fact that June 3, 1916, the 108th birthday anniversary of the man, was celebrated in U. S. Congress.

* Taken from the Taylor Family history.