The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-19
The Truth About Jefferson Davis.

The death of Mrs. JEFFERSON DAVIS
has revived a great number Of stories,
chiefly works Of imagination, which we
have reason TO believe afflicted the VEN
cradle lady during her later years, and
which must still be a source of deep an
noyance to her bereaved descendants.
Most conspicuous among these, and
perhaps the most irritating and m
barassing of all to the entire Davis FAM
lily and connection, is the persistent
gable about @the Davis estates and
the ancestral Davis home, at Beauvoir,
on the Mississippi gulf coast, some fifty
or sixty miles east Of New Orleans on
the Louisville and Nashville road. We
are told Of the far flung acres of the river
plantations and the old time splendors
of the seaside mansion Of Beauvoir. We
have visions OF princely domains, OF in
Vulnerable slaves, of all the state and
luxury in the ancient family home beside
the Gulf Of Mexico. The whole Davis
history is immersed in a cloud Of fiction
so preposterous that it cannot fail to
pain and to aflict all the survivors and
their friends.
We shall not 60 into absurd details
the extravagant price offered to Mrs.
DAVIS for Beauvoir, and her subsequent
decision, under great pressure, to sell it
to the State of Mississippi at one-ninth
Of the money, for a Confederate home.
It is not necessary, and it must needs
be offensive to such as are concerned
in and acquainted with the facts. The
truth is that JEFFERSON DAVIS never
had any great estate" in Mississippi
as things were counted by the big pro-
p~rietors in ante-bellum days. He was
not a native Of that State. His parents
migrated from Virginia to Kentucky,
where he was born, and the Mississippi
establishment was of very modern origin
and perhaps Of very limited extent. As
for Beauvoir, the so-called ancestral
| home" of the DAvIsEs, that property
belonged to a very different family, the
DoRsEYs, and was occupied by them
until the later '70s, say 1875. Mrs.
DORSEY was a most charming and ac-
cOmplished lady. She had many literary
gifts and wrote verses Of no ordinary
quality. She admired MIR. DAVIS and
frequently had him as her guest in the
DAYS Of his poverty. She and Mrs.
DAVIS were warm and loyal friends. All
the relations between the two families
were pure and beautiful. When Mrs.
| DORSEY died and bequeathed Beauvoir
to JEFFERSON DAVIS it was generally
accepted as a fulflpent Of public ex-
p~ectation. The place was not valuable,
The house was anything but princely
| As a matter Of fact, the whole property
could not have been sold at that time
for SlO,O 600. There was a typical summer
seaside retreat, such as II sees along
the Louisville and Nashville Railway
from the Rigolets to the Alabama line
and the estate" involved amounted t.
q few acres OF sand and -piney woods"
The truth is that JEFFERSON DAVIS wat
"a self-made man" in the strictest anC
most practical meaning Of the term
He went from Kentucky TO Mississippi
with no prestige Of family influence OF
iIhustrious ancestry. He was a man oi
brains, address, self-confidenCe and in
domitabIe courage. He rose from OBJ
scurity to fame and power by his owl
unaided genius. His memory needs NJ
promotion at the hands of omanc anC
hysteria.