Jefferson Finis Davis was born, in a log cabin, on June 3, 1808 in Davisburg, Christian County (now Todd County), Kentucky. He was the last of 10 children born to Samuel and Jean Cook Davis. Little did anyone know, that this boy was destined for greatness.

    Samuel Davis was a native of Georgia and served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War, under General George Washington.  He married Jean Cook in 1783, the year the war ended.  Their first five children were born in Georgia.

    In 1795, Samuel and Jean moved from Georgia to Kentucky and settled in a small community which later became known as Davisburg, later named Fairview. Samuel built a double log house on his 600 acre farm, he was a framer and horse breeder of pure blooded horses, and operated an inn, called the "Wayfarer's Rest".

    The area in which they lived was not what Samuel expected so he moved his family to Louisiana, when Jefferson was 2 years old. They lived there for about a year and then moved to Wilkinson County, Mississippi, and established a large plantation. Jefferson attended the county academy, but Samuel was displeased with this early education and sent young Jefferson back to Kentucky, although his mother strongly disapproved. She consented, when Jefferson was to be accompanied by a close family friend, Major Thomas Hinds of Natchez, Mississippi. Jefferson found the trip to be a great adventure, traveling along the  Natchez Trace through a wilderness inhabited by the Choctaw Indians. They stopped for a three week visit at The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of Andrew Jackson.

        Arriving in Washington County, Kentucky, he enrolled in The College of St. Thomas Aquinas. He was the youngest and smallest boy there, only seven years of age. He was also the only Protestant in the school. After two years of schooling he returned home on one of the first steamboats to travel the Mississippi.

    He attended Jefferson College, near Natchez, Mississippi, briefly and then enrolled in an academy near his home. Jefferson, as with most young boys, was stubborn at times. He had decided he was going to quit school, simply because he did not want to memorize a lesson. His father, being wiser than most of us, told him he had one of two choices. One was to go back to school the other was to work in the cotton fields. Jefferson chose the fields, but after two days of the hot Mississippi sun, he returned to school. Never again to suggest he quit school.

    Jefferson attended Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, for two years. This was to have the greatest impact on Jefferson Davis. Enrolled in this college were young men of  the aristocratic and wealthy families, this atmosphere Jefferson's aristocratic manners were born.

    There were no dormitories at the college so he boarded with a family, the postmaster of Lexington, Joseph Ficklin. Lexington was surrounded with a beautiful countryside. All around were farms and plantation owners who raised cattle and pure breed horses. Jefferson was familiar with the horse business, and loved horses. This surroundings just feed his appetite for riding. In 1824, at the age of 16, he was appointed to West Point. In that same year, his father, Samuel died of malaria. Jefferson Davis graduated from West Point on July 12, 1828, at the age of 20. He became a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. He spent 7 years at his first post,  Fort Crawford, in the Northwest Territory in what is now Wisconsin.

   Jefferson Davis met a young girl from a notable Kentucky family and they fell in love. Sarah Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor, was only 18 and Jefferson was 23, a fact her father did not approve of. He also opposed of his daughter marrying an army officer. The couple continued seeing each other for two years until Jefferson was transferred to Fort Gibson in Oklahoma. In the spring of 1835 Jefferson resigned from the army, hoping this would change the objections of Sarah's family. Although the family still disapproved, they began to make wedding plans.

    In June 1835, they were married in Louisville, Kentucky, at the home of her Aunt and her father's oldest brother gave her away. The marriage that faced such difficulties to ever be, was to be cut short. Before settling down on their Mississippi cotton plantation, they visited Jefferson's sister near St. Francisbille, Louisiana. While they were there, both newlyweds became ill with malarial fever. Sarah died on September 15, 1835, in her husbands arms, just three months after they were married. Jefferson's near death illness, left him in poor health for the rest of his life.

    After Sarah's death, Jefferson became a recluse on his plantation for nearly 8 years, grieving for his beloved wife. He refused to see anyone, except his slaves and his brother, Joseph. He spent his time reading books on government, history and world literature.

    In 1843 Jefferson decided he wanted a life in politics. The next year he was chosen one of the presidential electors at large of the State. During this time he met a woman, Varina Anne Howell, who changed his whole outlook on life. In fact she gave him back his life, and they were married on February 26, 1845.

    Jefferson took his seat in the House of Representatives on December 8, 1845, at the age of 37. During this time the Mexican War broke out and Jefferson was chosen to command a regiment of Mississippi Volunteers, in June, 1846. He fought under, his first wife's father, General Zachary Taylor. They were at some of the bloodiest  battles of the Mexican War and General Taylor later said this of Jefferson Davis "My daughter was a better judge of men than I was." Jefferson Davis returned home, in 1847, on crutches, due to a wound in his foot.

    When the Senator from Mississippi died, Jefferson was appointed to fill his seat. He was received as one of the nation's most outstanding heroes. In 1850 he was re-elected to the Senate for a full term of 6 years. After serving only 6 months her resigned to become a candidate for governor of Mississippi, but was defeated by a small margin.

    On March 7, 1853 Jefferson was appointed Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce. He remained in this office until 1857, when he returned to the Senate where he remained until the War Between the States. When Mississippi seceded from the Union, Jefferson resigned his seat. In his autobiography he recalls it this way; "When officially informed that Mississippi had passed the ordinance of secession, I took formal leave of the Senate, announcing for the last time the opinions I had so often expressed as to State sovereignty, and, as a consequence of it, the right of a State to withdraw its delegated prowers." Before he reached home, he had been appointed, by the convention of Mississippi, commander-in-chief of its army, with the rank of Major General.  As he began with the organization of this office, he received word, from the Provisional Confederate Congress, at Montgomery, Alabama, that he had been elected Provisional President of the Confederate States. He was reluctant to accept this position, but due to the circumstances he could not bring himself to refuse. He was inaugurated at Montgomery, Alabama on February 18, 1861, with Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, as Vice President. Jefferson Davis said this in his autobiography; "In my inaugural address I asserted that necessity, not choice, had led to the secession of the Southern States; that as an agricultural people, their policy was peace and free commerce with all the world; that the constituent parts, not the system of government, ahd been changed."

    Jefferson Davis served the Confederate States with dignity and strength. Many times displaying his unique ability to lead a country through this horrible war. At the close of the War Between the States, Jefferson Davis was captured and imprisoned for two years. He was charged with treason and put in a small cell in Fortress Monroe in Virginia. He was confined for two years, held in chains for the first six months, very rough treatment for a former head of state. He was released from Fortress Monroe in May, 1867.

    After the war, the South suffered from the loss and so did the former President of the Confederate States. Besides many personal tragedies, Jefferson and Varina Davis found themselves with financial problems as well. They spent time in England, Canada, and then took a position as president of an insurance company in Memphis, Tennessee.

    In 1877, they moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. He spent his final years there, on a 6 hundred acre plantation called  Beauvoir. In this quite serene setting he wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government", a two volume work of about 700 pages each. In his autobiography he ended with these words; "Since settling at Beauvoir, I have persistently refused to take any active part in politics, not merely because of my disfranchisement, but form a belief that such labors could not be made to conduce to the public good, owing to the sectional hostilities manifested against me since the war."

    In 1886 Jefferson Davis returned to Fairview, Kentucky, his birthplace. This would prove to be his last trip to Kentucky. Upon this visit he presented the Bethel Baptist Church with his birthplace. At the presentation he said this, and it is on a bronze plaque that stands beside a monument erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; "Kentucky, my own, my native land. God grant that peace and plenty may ever run throughout your borders. god grant that your sons and daughters may ever rise to illustrate the fame of their dead fathers and that wherever the name of Kentucky is mentioned, every hand shall be lifted and every head bowed for all that is grand, all that is glorious, all that is virtuous, all that is honorable and manly." The log cabin is gone now, but  a beautiful concrete obelisk monument stands to mark the birthplace of a great and beloved man. It is the highest in the United States, the shaft is 351 feet high and was erected by the people of the South through the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It can be seen for miles as you travel US 68 and Kentucky Highway 80, between Hopkinsville and Elkton, Kentucky. A gift shop is open to the public with lots of books on the Confederacy and Jefferson Davis.

   Jefferson Davis had six children, four sons and two daughters. Their first child died at  two years of age. Margaret, born in 1855, was the only one to marry and raise a family. She had four children. Jefferson Davis. Jr. died in 1878, when he was 21. Joseph died in a fall from the upper gallery of the White House in 1864, he was only 5 years old. William died in 1872 when he was eleven, and Varina, known as "Winnie" to her family and as "The Daughter of the Confederacy" to the South, never married. She remained unmarried out of respect to her father. Sometime in the 1880s she met and fell in love with a young man, he was a Yankee and she knew how this would hurt her father and the South, so she did not marry him. He also remained unmarried.

    Jefferson Davis died at the age of 81, on December 6, 1889 in New Orleans. He was given the title of "The Uncrowned King of the South" by the newspapers at the time of his death.  His funeral was attended by over 10,000 people, who came to bid their beloved and respected President good-bye.  He had devoted his life to service to his country and to its principles.

    He was re-enterred in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, where five American presidents are also buried. Varina Davis died in 1906 and is buried beside him in the family plot.