The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1906-10-20

moving in the brilliant society of the
capital. Just before the war broke out
she came South with him and shared
with him all the triumphs and misfor-
tunes of the four years OF strife, and
when the end came and Mr.. Davis was
seeking to make his.way further South
from Richmond she was his companion
until he was captured by the federal
forces. During his imprisonment she
labored to secure an amelioration of the
rigors of prison life, and finally when he
was released she travelled with him and
nursed him slowly back to health. Ulti-
mately they settled at Beauvoir, where
the declining years of Mr.. Davis was
spent.
Mrs. Davis possessed splendid execu-
tive powers and as the mistress of Beau
voir was a model housekeeper. When
she and Mr.. Davis took possession of
Beauvoir it was barely furnished with
absolute necessities. In few months
time she had transformedit it into home.
She had it curtained and carpeted, and
filled with the art treasures collected
abroad.
Though Mrs. Davis was Southern born
and bred, she never knew days perfect
health in it's warm climate. She suffer-
ed terribly from the heat and it was due
to this fact that she finally made her
home in New York City, where she liv-
ed during the cold months, and at Mar
ragansett Pier during the heated term.
Many and many of the public functions
at which President Davis and his daugh-
ter appeared, Mrs. Davis was unable to
attend, because of her own illness. When
her son, Jefferson Davis, Jr., died at
Memphis, Tenn, in 1878, it was Mrs.
Hayes, his sister, who was sent to nurse
him in place of his mother, who was too
i'll to go.
Mr.. Davis acquisition of the Beau
voir property was partly by purchase and
partly by inheritance. 1t had been own
ed by Mrs. Sarah Dorsey, who was an
enthusiastic admirer of the Davis family
and who boarded them in her home be-
fore she decided to give it up. Mr.. Da-
Wis would not accept it as gift, SO he
proposed to buy it from her. He had
made the first payment, when Mrs. Dor
sey went to New Orleans for an opera
ton, under which she died. Her will
left the Beauvoir house and grounds to
President Davis and his daughter Win
ME. Relatives contested the will but
the courts held it valid.
Within the last few years Mrs. Davis
sold this home to the Sons of Veterans
of Mississippi for $4,000, and it was
made h5ne for Confederate veterans.
Upon Miss winnie Davis return from
school in Germany the Beauvoir house
was continuous scene ofgayety. There
were innumerable visitors and house par
ties, on which occasions Mrs. Davis was
always the gracious hostess. She and
her daughter made frequent trips to New
Orleans, where they were the guests of
the families of J. u. Payne and Edgar
H. Farrar, Mrs. DaYis' first cousin.
From 1881 to 1884 Mr.. Davis was la
boring upon his great work, "The Rise
and Fal! of the Confederate States," and
his wife was his able assistant. They
frequently worked all night in order to
finish some part in which they were in
terested. After Mr.. Davis death in New
Orleans, in December of 1889, Mrs. Da-
Wis went back to Beauvoir to live, and
there began her memoirs of her distin-
guished husband. She remained there
with her daughter until she had COM
pleted her work, when she went to New
York City to live.
Her remains were buried today at
Richmond, near those of her husband.