Descendants of President Jefferson Davis

It is quite easy to know if you are a descendant of Jefferson Davis, as there are few of them; his descendants are rare. If you are an adult in 2015, you must have one parent or grandparent with the surname WEBB, YOUNG, HAYES, or HAYES-DAVIS, born in Colorado, as all of Jefferson Davis' grandchildren or great grandchildren were born, raised and died in Colorado. No descendants have been found in South Carolina in the 1970s as SC Representative Jenny Horne has claimed.

A name to protect 

At a reunion in Mississippi 35 years ago, the descendants of Jefferson Davis formed a family association and elected a president: a bearded, longhaired geology graduate student born and raised in Colorado.

Bertram Hayes-Davis had at least one qualification others lacked: his hyphenated surname, created by an act of the Mississippi Legislature on Feb 21, 1890, to preserve the name of the president of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis had six children, but only his daughter Margaret married (to a man named Hayes) and had children.

In his ancestor, Hayes-Davis found his calling: to show that Davis' life was about more than slavery. Because Davis led the Confederacy, he says, "everything else about him was obliterated" — West Point graduate, successful planter, member of the U.S. Houseand Senate, wounded Mexican War veteran, early advocate of the transcontinental railroad and secretary of War (1853-1857). 

Hayes-Davis says it's not just Davis who is misunderstood; Confederates in general are tarred by slavery. "What about everything else they did?" he asks. "We want to tell the world we still have that integrity and those values today."

Those values include states' rights. Hayes-Davis is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which calls the South's secession in 1860-61 "the Second American Revolution," motivated not by slavery but "the preservation of liberty and freedom."

Over the past three decades, Hayes-Davis has made more than 1,000 speeches and appearances, many at the kind of functions where Dixie is sung, the Confederate flag is flown and the Confederate "Lost Cause" is mourned.

He says that if Americans knew Davis better, they'd respect him more: "Ignorance is our barrier. It's what we get up for every day. This is something I believe in."

When he sought support for observations of Davis' 200th birthday in 2008, he was rebuffed by dozens of museums and organizations. Even Mississippi, where Davis lived, declined to establish a bicentennial commission. 

Hayes-Davis, who lives in Dallas, has a son and a daughter. He hopes the family name will continue, because even though Davis has hundreds of great-great-great-grandchildren, "it means more when one of the descendants has the name."

The above comes from "USA TODAY" 5/9/2011

True Descendants of President Jefferson Davis

Stolen Confederate Heritage

Representative Jenny Horne was frustrated in the debate over removal of the Confederate Flag in South Carolina. Descendants of Confederate soldiers were claiming the flag as their heritage. Horne had heard enough about "Southern Heritage" and she approached the lectern to lecture them about her far more impressive heritage - direct descent from the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. As the modern-day emissary of her self-appropriated ancestor, she demanded removal of his "SYMBOL of HATE off these grounds." Although Southerners are usually reticent about bragging on their famous forebears, Jenny Horne was unabashed.

“I have heard enough about heritage. I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, okay?"

Yes, it is okay, if it is true. Those who have "heritage" in their family's Confederate service, not only know the names of their ancestors, but the battles they fought, the units they served under, the battle flags they carried, and their lineage from father to son down to present day. Horne told "The Post and Courier" that she is a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis — a claim she said she never researched but was told to her by her grandfather, who was proud of the fact. Regardless, there is nothing that supports her enrobing herself with the respected mantle of a well documented historic American family. Jefferson Davis left few descendants, therefore Representative Horne would have found the genealogical research quite simple, for all four of Davis's grandchildren came of age during the twentieth century. In addition, there is a Davis Family Organization that keeps tract of its descendants.

High birth is disparaged by those who lack it. Those who are boastful of high birth have little else to their credit. --Old Virginia Saying

Heritage in the South is not based upon the rank of one's ancestor in history, it is based upon his honor, duty and service. Jefferson Davis, who was destined to become America's most maligned leader, was in fact a man of great integrity, honor and principle, an American Patriot. It is disrespectful to Jefferson Davis and his true descendants for him to be made into a fake ancestor by those seeking aggrandizement of themselves and furtherance of their political goals. Before serving as President of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865, Jefferson Davis proved his great dedication to the nation of his birth.

• 1824 - 1828 West Point
• 1828 - 1835 US Army
• 1845 - 1847 US Congress
• 1847 - 1848 Mexican War
• 1848 - 1853 US Senate
• 1853 - 1857 US Secretary of War
• 1857 - 1861 US Senate

Jefferson Davis deserves more honor for his dedication to a nascent United States of America, than to be have his bloodline and heritage shamelessly expropriated by a petty politician who needs a win and a day or two of media limelight. 

Jefferson Davis Descendants

Jefferson Davis Descendants

It is rare to encounter a descendant of Jefferson Davis, as he left only four grandchildren, born in the late 1800s. If your parent or grandparent is not on the chart below, you are NOT a descendant of President Jefferson DAVIS, Confederate States of America! It is that simple, as he left few descendants.

Jefferson Davis & His Surviving Descendants

All of Jefferson Davis's grandchildren were raised and married in Colorado Springs, Colorado and died less than one hundred years ago, in the twentieth century. If you are an adult descendant of Jefferson Davis, it is quite easy to trace your lineage back to one of his four grandchildren, or his twelve great grandchildren, as that person would be your parent or grandparent.

Joel Addison HAYES Memorial at Find A Grave covers Margaret, the daughter of Jefferson Davis, her husband, children and grandchildren and there is not one with a South Carolina connection. In fact ALL their children and grandchildren were born and died in Colorado, except one who died in California. How Representative Jenny Horne can trace her South Carolinian roots to these Coloradans is quite a mystery.

Stolen Confederate Heritage

Is Jenny Horne a Descendant of Jeff Davis?

Jenny Horne: 

How a descendant of the president of the Confederacy helped vanquish his flag

As other South Carolina legislators recounted their heritage of the Confederate flag that their ancestors had carried into battle, Representative Jenny Horne who wanted the flag removed from courthouse grounds, trumped them all with her statement of  direct ancestral descent from the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis.

“I’m sorry. I have heard enough about heritage,” Horne said during the debate. “I have a heritage. I am a lifelong South Carolinian. I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, okay? But that does not matter. It’s not about Jenny Horne. It’s about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off the statehouse grounds.”

Although Southerners are usually reticent about bragging on their famous forebears, Representative Horne's statement won the day. But was it true? I have a hunch that South Carolina Representative Jenny Horne is no more a descendant of Jefferson Davis than Senator Elizabeth Warren is of the Cherokee Nation. My hunches are various. I will begin with the fact that to be a descendant of Jefferson Davis one has to trace lineage back to one of four grandchildren of Jefferson Davis who were born 1879 - 1889, and raised and married in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The above chart is from Genealogy of Jefferson Davis, President CSA

President Jefferson Davis had six children, but only one child, a daughter, Margaret who married a man named Hayes had children, four of whom reached adulthood and they all married in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1890, the Mississippi Legislature allowed her children to preserve the name of her father, the president of the Confederacy, by using the hyphenation of Hayes-Davis.
South Carolina Representative Jenny Horne's maiden name is Jenny A. Anderson, born in South Carolina 1972, to Danny and Cindy Anderson, indeed, a "life-long South Carolinian" as she described herself. The Jefferson Davis family was from Mississippi where they lived and where their older children were born.

Wikipedia:"Margaret Howell was born February 25, 1855, and was the only child to marry and raise a family. She married Joel Addison Hayes, Jr. (1848–1919), and they had five children. They were married in St. Lazarus Church, nicknamed "The Confederate Officers' Church", in Memphis, Tennessee. In the late 19th century, they moved from Memphis to Colorado Springs, Colorado. She died on July 18, 1909, at the age of 54."

Margaret and Joel Hayes had five children, with four living to adulthood. The four Hayes-Davis children were born 1879 - 1889, and raised and settled in Colorado. All four of Jefferson Davis's grandchildren married in Colorado Springs, Colorado between 1904-1913. So far I have found no connection of their descendants to the Anderson family of South Carolina.

This is the most detailed pedigree chart of Jefferson Davis's daughter Margaret (Davis) Hayes available, and I found no indication of any of her descendants who lived in South Carolina, where Representative Jenny Horne was born and raised. Perhaps Representative Horne can elucidate to help us understand her connection. Which one of Margaret's four children were the great grandparent of Representative Jenny Horne. Was it Varina, Lucy, Jefferson or William Hayes-Davis?

Only those who descend from Varina, Lucy, Jefferson or William Hayes-Davis can claim descent from President Jefferson Davis. It is that easy. Census records are readily available to prove lineage, and if Representative Jenny Horne can tell me how she connects I will verify and report it here.

Is Jenny Horne a Descendant of President Jefferson Davis?

Joel Addison HAYES, Jr. & Margaret Howell DAVIS GENEALOGY

Rice University Genealogy of Jefferson Davis

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