The following clause of Mrs. Dorsey’s will expresses her great admiration and reverence for the ex-President of the Confederate States of America: “If Davis should not survive me, I give all that I have bequeathed to him to his youngest daughter Varina. I do not intend to share in the ingratitude of my country toward the man who is in my eyes the highest and noblest in existence”.
This last will and testament of Mrs. Sarah Anne Dorsey was probated July 15, 1879 in the office of the Second District Court for the Parish of Orleans, the home State of the testatrix. It is interesting to note that there was no record made of this will in the office of the Chancery Clerk of Harrison County, Mississippi, until Judge A. McC. Kimbrough, acting for Mrs. Davis in the sale of Beauvoir in 1902, had the Louisiana records of the probation of the Dorsey will made a part of Harrison County records of wills.
Due, no doubt, to the provision in Mrs. Dorsey’s will for his youngest daughter’s inheritance of Beauvoir if he (Davis) did not survive her, Jefferson Davis willed this particular piece of property to his daughter Varina Anne (Winnie). However, there is no question as to its being in accord with his own heart’s desire to have Beauvoir pass to Winnie who as a child had been, as he said, “His only gleam of light in that long night” while imprisoned at Fortress Monroe; and who as a young lady had been, as Mrs. Davis said, “The harp of their lonely hearts”.
Winnie’s ownership of Beauvoir was from her father’s death, Dec. 6, 1889 until her death, Sept. 18, 1898, when it then through her will became the property of her mother. During the years that Winnie owned Beauvoir, both she and her mother spent much of their time in New York, where she used her talent as an artist and writer, and her mother, hers as a writer, as an added source of income. The years they spent in the North were made more interesting and enjoyable through their acquaintance and, in some cases, friendships with certain men and women of like culture and talents from that section.
When about to leave on a trip to Egypt, Feb. 11, 1898, Winnie wrote her will naming her mother as heir to Beauvoir. This will was recorded in Louisiana, Oct. 27, 1898, but was not put on record in Mississippi until April 20, 1902.
When Mrs. Davis became the owner of Beauvoir, her failing health and her lack of sufficient income for the upkeep of the property, and her own needs as well, made it necessary that she sell this property, which she and Winnie had always valued more for their treasured memories associated with it than for its material worth. Proof of the depth of feeling Mrs. Davis had for Beauvoir as the last and greatly loved home of her beloved husband, the only President of the Confederate States of America, is found in her refusal of the offer of $90,000.00 from those planning to purchase it for hotel purposes, and her acceptance of $10,000.00 from the Mississippi Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose plans for its use were in accord with the provisions upon which she conditioned the sale.
Regardless of how the plan originated for the conversion of Beauvoir into a home for Confederate veterans, and their wives and widows, great credit is due Mrs. A. McC. Kimbrough for leaving no stone unturned in her efforts to induce the Mississippi Division Sons of Confederate Veterans to make the offer that Mrs. Davis so readily accepted. However, other UDC members throughout the state had a part also in influencing the purchase of Beauvoir for a Confederate Soldiers home and in helping raise the money for the purchase.
Reception Hall—Extends the Length of the House
The Mississippi Division Sons of Confederate Veterans took title to Beauvoir on October 10, 1902, and in so doing accepted the obligation to carry out the conditions imposed by Mrs. Davis, the most important of which were the requirements that Beauvoir be used as a Jefferson Davis Soldiers’ Home for ex-Confederate soldiers and sailors, their wives and widows, orphans and slaves, as long as there was need for such a home; and that Beauvoir House be set apart as a memorial solely to Jefferson Davis and his family and be maintained as it was during its occupancy by them.