The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-08-14

noIulng her. Her mind was marked by
that want of steady balance which i.
needed i'll safe, sane aud prudent per.
son.
"NTrs. Dorsey'so grandfather was Col
John l.. Ellis, who was n rich planter
near Natchez, and was colonel of the
regiment that was raised when there was
difference threatened between the
Spaniards and Americans after the ces.
sion of Louisiana by Napoleon to this
country. lie died in 1919 and his wild
ow had two children, one OF them being
Thomas l.. Ellis, who was the father OF
Mrs. Dorsey, aud a daughter who mar.
ried DR.. La Roche, of Philadelphia, q
West India refugee. Mrs. Ellis then
married Maj. n. A. Ware, Natchez
lawyer, and alterward had two daughters
one of whom became the wife of Elisha
Warfield, Kentucky planter, and the
other the wife of Harry Lee, who now
lives in Washington County, Miss. Mrs
Warfield was an authorcss, and l think
she wrote q. book entitled 'Beauvoir', from
which the plantation was named.
Now Mrs. Dorsey's father, Thomas L.
Ellis, married Mary M. Routh of the
Percy blood. Her brother, John Routh,
was one of the largest planters in the South
lie died i'll 1889, OIL Lake St. Joseph
where hc had gone to buy another plan.
tation. He left four children-Sarah
Stephen, Thomas and Incz-who were
all small when, liz $50 l married their
mother. l was born in Philadelphia, and
when / was a boy WAS in the navy with
my brother John, and Farragut was our
commander, but my mother and sister
needed support, and left John, after.
ward Admiral Dahlgren, at sea, and came
home I was raised up in the United
States Bank, and WAS sent to take charge
of the Vjcksburg branch of the bank, and
there l was when l married the widow
Ellis. She bore me seven children. Two
only survive-Mortimcr and Charles
Two perished in the war.
Mrs. Dorsey was, think, one Of the
most remarkable women Of her time
She was little girl when l took charge
of the family, and discovered that she
had wonderful intellect, which deter.
mined to develop. spent fortune do.
ing it, but never regretted the result
She took in every study and every accom-.
plishment. / have never listened to such
sweet musician off the stage. l had
Bochsa, the great harp-player, teach hel
on the harp, and purchased the instru
ment that lie played on for her. She ex
hausted the dancing moster's skill, she
learned SO rapidly, and when she had en-
compassed about everything in the range
of an ordinary education, / put hel
through course OF law and book keeping
with as happy results. When she lef
my hands she hadn't an equal IN ths
South. She was not beautiful woman
but she had pleasant features, fine fig
ure, and those peculiar feminine way,
that go so far in making up woman's
attractions. She was impulsve, and il
took not only a strong oym, but steady
one, to hold hor. With her tendency te
act by impulses, added to her energy and
her intellect, when once she was started
in pursuit of an object, it was like trying
to rein in whirlwind to stop her.
II was opposed to her marriage with
Samuel w. Dorsey. lie was fine man
and his father was Chief Justice, O
Maryland, but he was inactive. and i
was like wedding the living to the deat
to marry such an animated creature to {
man of phlegmatic temperament VIII,
was so many years her senior. Wher
she asked me my opinion l gave her al
honest one, and it offended her, perhaps
for after her marriage did not sec mucl
of her, and did not see her for twenty
five years before her death.
at is Il mistake that Jefferson Davi.
knew her father end mother, and :iia
the families were limited by ties of ole
association. My wife did not know JEFF
ferson Davis, and while Mrs. Dorsey may
have made his acquaintance in England
or through correspondence during the war
my belief is that she did not make hi
acquaintance until after the war, ant
very likely not until she invited him tc
Beauvoir to live. 1t is doubtless her i'm
pulses that led her to offer him her res
idence for his home, and the same i'm
pulses that led her TO bestow upon him al
her fortune"
Gen. Dahlgrcn declined to speak fo
publication upon the merits of the pro
posed contest, owing to his personal hos
tility to Jefferson Davis, which, he said
would make indelicate any words char
acterizing Mr.. Davis's conduct in max
ing his home at Beauvior and in accent
ing the fortune of his hostess. He said
however, that Jefferson Davis possessed
infinite tact and cunning; that he wa,
polished and persuasive in his speech
but always knew when to stop talking.
"Do you believe there will be a con
test of the will?" Gen. Dahlgren wa,
asked.
IL have no doubt of it," he said. 81
suppose that will be on the ground O
undue influence. The heirs who woult
receive the property and who will sntel
into the contest are Mrs. Dorsey's broth
cr, Stephen z. Ellis, of Brooklyn, her sis
ter, Mrs. Inez Peckham, and her niece
tbs daughter of Thomas La Roache Ell
lis, who died confederate soldier, leav
ing wife, Mrs. Appeline Ellis, a niece
of Gen. Meade, now in the Philadelphi.
post-Office. Then under the laws O
Louisiana, my sons Mortimer and Charlie.
are heirs, as half brothers, and will joir
in the contest"
"Where will the suit be begun"
"In New Orleans, as the bulk of tn,
property is III Iouisianu, and the vii
has been offered for probate there. I
the will is set asi,ie there, the judgment
will be followed in Mississippi where tn,
Beauvoir plantation is."
Wis will hold on TO the property"
"If Wade Hampton was the one con
cerned" said Gen. Dahlgren, "he woult
destroy the will and divide the propert,
among the heirs. He is the soul of hon
or, as was his father before him."
Mortimer Dahlgren, who now live
in st. Louis. Mo, half-brother of Mrs
Dorsey, lived at Beauyor for two year
while Jefferson DaviL was a residen
there, and had charge Of Mrs. Dorseyt
business. He left the place some time
ago, because of dispute he is said t.
have had about Mr.. Davs's continued
presence at Beauvoir, while his (Davis's
family lived in Memphis. and about thf