Varina Howell Davis
| Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of the Confederate States | |
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In role February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865 |
|
| President | Jefferson Davis |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Varina Banks Howell May 7, 1826 Natchez, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | October 16, 1906 (aged 80) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Spouse(s) | Jefferson Davis (m. 1845–89) |
| Occupation | Writer |
Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis (May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the second wife of the politician Jefferson Davis, who became president of the Confederate States of America in 1861. She served as the First Lady of the new nation at the capital in Richmond, Virginia, although she was ambivalent about the war. Born and raised in the South and well educated in Philadelphia, she had family in both regions and unconventional views for a woman in her public role. She supported the Confederacy's position on slavery and states' rights.
Davis became a writer after the American Civil War, completing her husband's memoir. She was recruited by Kate Davis Pulitzer to write articles and eventually a regular column for her husband Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World. In 1891 after her husband's death, Davis moved to New York City to live full-time there with her daughter Winnie. She very much enjoyed living in New York and in the late nineteenth century, she acted to reconcile prominent figures of the North and South.
Varina Banks Howell was born in 1826 at Natchez, Mississippi, the daughter of William Burr Howell and Margaret Louisa Kempe. Her father was from a distinguished family in New Jersey: his father Richard Howell served several terms as Governor of New Jersey and died when William was a boy. William inherited little money and used family connections to become a clerk in the Bank of the United States.
William Howell relocated to Mississippi, when new cotton plantations were being rapidly developed. There he met and married Margaret Louisa Kempe (1806–1867), born in Prince William County, Virginia. Her wealthy planter family had moved to Mississippi before 1816. She was the daughter of Colonel Joseph Kempe (sometimes spelled Kemp), a Scots-Irish immigrant from northern Ireland who became a planter and major landowner, and Margaret Graham, born in Prince William County. Margaret Graham was considered illegitimate as her parents, George Graham, a Scots immigrant, and Susanna McAllister (1783–1816) of Virginia, never officially married.
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