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See more
 Jewelry
of Varina Howell Davis
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Varina Howell Davis (1826–1906)
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Varina Howell Davis was born near Natchez, Mississippi,
on May 7, 1826. At eighteen, when she married Jefferson
Davis, who was twice her age, she had developed
a lively intellect and polished social graces. In
Richmond during the Civil War, as the wife of the
President of the Confederacy, Varina Davis admirably
fulfilled her three primary roles as an affectionate
spouse to a proud and sensitive husband, as an attentive
mother to five young children (two of whom were
born during the war), and as a socially engaging
First Lady.
This miniature portrait of Varina Davis was painted
by John Wood Dodge in 1849, four years after her
marriage.
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John Wood Dodge (1807–1893)
Watercolor on ivory, 1849
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gift of Varina Webb Stewart
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