Jefferson Davis - Second Marriage and Family

Second Marriage and Family

That same year, Davis met Varina Banks Howell, then 17 years old, whom his brother Joseph had invited for the Christmas season at Hurricane plantation. She was the daughter of Margaret L. Kempe and William Burr Howell, and the granddaughter of the late New Jersey Governor Richard Howell and his wife Keziah. Within a month of their meeting, the 35-year-old widower Davis had asked Varina to marry him. They became engaged over her parents' initial concerns about his age and politics, and they married on February 26, 1845.

Jefferson and Varina Howell Davis had six children; three died before reaching adulthood. Margaret and Winnie survived Jefferson.

• Samuel Emory, born July 30, 1852, was named after his grandfather; he died June 30, 1854, of an undiagnosed disease.
• Margaret Howell, born February 25, 1855. Margaret was the only child of Jefferson and Varina to marry and raise a family. She married Joel Addison Hayes, Jr. (1848–1919), and they had five children. In the late 19th century, they moved from Memphis, Tennessee to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She died on July 18, 1909 at the age of 54.
• Jefferson Davis, Jr., born January 16, 1857. He died of yellow fever at age 21 on October 16, 1878, during an epidemic in the Mississippi River Valley that caused 20,000 deaths.
• Joseph Evan, born on April 18, 1859; died at five years old as the result of an accidental fall on April 30, 1864.
• William Howell, born on December 6, 1861, and named for Varina's father; died of diphtheria on October 16, 1872.
• Varina Anne "Winnie" Davis, born on June 27, 1864, several months after Joseph's death. She died on September 18, 1898, at age 34. She was unmarried as her parents had refused to let her marry into a northern abolitionist family.

Davis was plagued with poor health for most of his life. In addition to bouts with malaria, battle wounds from fighting in the Mexican-American War, and a chronic eye infection that made it impossible for him to endure bright light, he also suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, a nerve disorder that causes severe pain in the face. It has been called one of the most painful ailments known to mankind.