Margaret Louisa Kempe Howell (January 6, 1806 – November 24, 1867) was an American heiress, planter, and slaveowner who was the mother of

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

First Lady

Varina Davis Varina Anne Banks Davis ( Howell; May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. She moved to the presidential mansion in Richmond, ...

and mother-in-law of Confederate President

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

. Upon her marriage to the son of New Jersey Governor

Richard Howell Richard Howell (October 25, 1754April 28, 1802) was the third governor of New Jersey from 1793 to 1801. Early life and military career Howell was born in Newark, in the Colony of Delaware, and was a descendant of a Virginian old colonist fa ...

, her father granted her a

dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...

of sixty slaves and two thousand acres of land in Mississippi. She and her husband faced financial difficulties throughout their lives and depended on the support of her family. After their plantation was seized by creditors, they rented a mansion known as The Briars from John Perkins Sr. Following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Howell fled to Canada, where she died.

Early life and family

Howell was born Margaret Louisa Kempe on January 6, 1806, in

Prince William County, Virginia Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 482,204, making it Virginia's second most populous county. The county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part ...

to Colonel James Kempe and Margaret Graham Kempe. Her father, a Scots-Irish immigrant from

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, became a wealthy planter and major landowner in Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Her mother was the illegitimate daughter of George Graham, a Scottish immigrant and planter, and Susanna McAllister, a Virginian woman. Howell's father served as an officer in the Mississippi Commands during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, commanding a company at

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and at

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

. The Howell family moved from Virginia to Mississippi before 1816 to reside at one of their

plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

Adult life

In 1823, she married William Burr Howell, the son of New Jersey Governor

, in

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States ** Natchez slave market, Mississippi * ...

. Her father gave her a

of two thousand acres of land in Mississippi and sixty slaves.

Joseph Emory Davis Joseph Emory Davis (10 December 1784 – 18 September 1870) was an American lawyer who became one of the wealthiest planters in Mississippi in the antebellum era; he owned thousands of acres of land and was among the nine men in Mississippi who o ...

, a school friend of hers, was a groomsman at the wedding. She later named her first son after him. They had eleven children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. One of her daughters, Varina, would later marry

, the brother of Joseph, and serve as First Lady of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

. In 1825, Howell and her husband went north to improve the health of their eldest son, Joseph Davis Howell. The Howells were accompanied by Joseph E. Davis and their child's nurse. They traveled in a carriage led by two horse to the crossing of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

, where they took a boat to Brownsville. During their journey, they met English caricaturist

George Cruikshank George Cruikshank or Cruickshank ( ; 27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern William Hogarth, Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dicken ...

and the Indiana politician

Robert Dale Owen Robert Dale Owen (7 November 1801 – 24 June 1877) was a Scottish-born Welsh-American social reformer who was active in Indiana politics as member of the Democratic Party in the Indiana House of Representatives (1835–39 and 1851–53) and re ...

. They eventually reached New York and visited the young Jefferson Davis at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

Throughout their marriage, Howell's husband worked as a planter, merchant, politician, cotton broker, banker, postmaster, and military commissary manager, but never secured long-term financial stability. The majority of Howell's sizable dowry and her inheritance were lost through her husband's bad investments and the couple's lavish lifestyle. Howell's husband declared bankruptcy in 1875 and the family home, furnishings, and slaves were seized by creditors to be sold at public auction.FRANCES CLARKE, "Review of Cashin, ''First Lady of the Confederacy''"
Harvard University Press, 2006, in ''Australasian Journal of American Studies'', Vol. 27, No. 2 (December 2008), pp. 145–47; retrieved June 1, 2012. Howell and her husband continued to have financial problems throughout their lives and depended on her wealthy relatives for support. Howell and her family took up residence at The Briars, a mansion in Natchez that was leased to them by John Perkins Sr. from 1828 to 1850. During the

, Colonel

John McGavock Col. John McGavock (1815–1893) was an American heir and Southern planter.William S. Speer, ''Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans: Containing Biographies and Records of Many of the Families Who Have Attained Prominence in Tennessee'', Genealogical P ...

and Carrie Elizabeth Winder McGavock of Carnton Plantation sent one of their pregnant house slaves,

Mariah Reddick Mariah Bell Otey Reddick (1832–1922) was an American midwife, nurse, and domestic worker who was held as a slave at Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee. She worked for the family of Colonel John McGavock for four generations, both as a h ...

, to stay with Kempe at her house in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

. Following the South's defeat in the war, Howell fled to Canada. She helped care for her elder grandchildren while her son-in-law was imprisoned at

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. It is currently managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth o ...

Death and legacy

Howell died in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

on November 24, 1867. She was buried at Cimetière Mont-Royal in

Outremont Outremont () is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by F ...

. Some of her belongings, including an

étui A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are u ...

and a floral needlework

appliqué Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...

, are housed in the collection of the

American Civil War Museum The American Civil War Museum is a multi-site museum in the Greater Richmond Region of central Virginia, dedicated to the history of the American Civil War. The museum operates three sites: The White House of the Confederacy, the American Civil ...

Works cited

* Cashin, Joan (2006). '' First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War,'' Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Margaret Kempe 1806 births 1867 deaths 19th-century American planters 19th-century American women landowners American expatriates in Canada American people of Scotch-Irish descent American refugees American socialites American slave owners Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery Family of Jefferson Davis People from the Confederate States of America People from Prince William County, Virginia Women in the American Civil War Women slave owners