Biography:

Varina Howell was born at Marengo Plantation, Concordia Parish, Louisiana, on May 7, 1826. She was the daughter of William Burr and Margaret Louisa Kempe Howell of Natchez, Mississippi. Varina Howell graduated from Elizabeth Female Academy, Washington, Mississippi, in 1840. She married Jefferson Davis at The Briars, the Howell family residence in Natchez, on February 26, 1845. The couple had six children: Samuel Emory (1852-1854), Margaret Howell (1855-1909), Jefferson, Jr. (1857-1878), Joseph Evan (1859-1864), William Howell (d. 1872), and Varina Anne (1864-1898).

Following the death of Jefferson Davis in 1889, Varina Davis wrote a two-volume biography entitled Jefferson Davis--Ex-President of the Confederate States, A Memoir by His Wife that was published in 1890. After donating Beauvoir, the Biloxi residence of the Davis family, to the state of Mississippi as a home for Confederate veterans, Varina Davis relocated to New York City. She wrote feature articles for the New York Sunday World from 1896 to 1906. Varina Davis died in New York City on October 16, 1906.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of photocopies of an October 26, 1884, letter and envelope from Varina Howell Davis to her cousin, Martha Titus, who lived on Market Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The letter concerns the death of the brother of Martha Titus. Other family members mentioned in the letter include his wife and baby, Frazier, as well as Varina Anne (Winnie) Davis. Colonel J. H. Edmondson, a Confederate veteran and business associate of Jefferson Davis, is also discussed.

 

Series Identification:

Series 1: Letter. 1884. 0.10 cubic ft.