Joseph Emory Davis
| Joseph Emory Davis | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 10, 1784 Wilkes County, Georgia |
| Died | September 18, 1870 (aged 85) Vicksburg, Mississippi |
| Nationality | American, Confederate |
| Occupation | Attorney and planter |
| Known for | One of the wealthiest planters in Mississippi; brother of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy |
| Spouse(s) | Eliza Van Benthuysen |
| Children | Three acknowledged natural daughters; two adopted children |
Joseph Emory Davis (10 December 1784 – 18 September 1870) was an American lawyer and planter who became one of the wealthiest planters in Mississippi in the antebellum era. He was among nine men in the state who owned more than 300 slaves, and by 1860 he owned several plantations, totaling thousands of acres. He was known for his utopian Hurricane Plantation at Davis Bend (now Davis Island).
Davis was the elder brother by 23 years of Jefferson Davis, with whom he was close. After the younger man left his career in the military, Joseph gave him Brierfield Plantation, near his on Davis Bend. The younger man later was elected President of the Confederate States of America (1861–1865).
Joseph Davis provided much better living conditions for slaves than usual, granted them considerable self-government, and provided skills training and health care. In 1867 Davis Bend was cut off from the mainland by flooding in which the Mississippi River cut a new channel across the peninsula. Davis sold the plantation to Benjamin Montgomery, who had been an outstanding manager, and encouraged him in making a community of freedmen.
Joseph Emory Davis was born on December 10, 1784, near Augusta, Georgia. He was the oldest of the ten children of Samuel Davis and Jane (Cook) Davis. Samuel farmed in Georgia, but in 1793 the Davis family (by then consisting of the couple, four sons, and a daughter) set out for the newly formed state of Kentucky, where the land was more promising. In Kentucky four more daughters were born, and lastly son Jefferson in 1808. Joseph was 23 years older than Jefferson.
Joseph was placed in a mercantile house at an early age. He studied law in Russellville and in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, where he accompanied his father in 1811 to explore the area. He was admitted to the bar in 1812, and first practiced in Pinckneyville, Mississippi. He also worked as an attorney in Greenville, an important trading town on the Mississippi River in the Delta.
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