Jane Cook Davis

(1760/61-1845)

Jane Cook Davis, the mother of Jefferson Davis, was born in North Carolina about 1760 or '61. We believe Jefferson Davis' mother was the daughter of noted Baptist minister William Cook of Edgefield District, S.C. However, according to an 1866 letter from Joseph E. Davis, Jane Cook was the daughter of Roger Cook, an Irish emigrant. The identity of Jane's mother is not known. Jane met Samuel Emory Davis in South Carolina during the American Revolution, and they were married right after the war in 1783. The following year she gave birth to Joseph Emory Davis, the first of their ten children, half of whom were born before the couple left Georgia about 1797.

After Samuel's death in 1824, Jane Davis remained at Rosemont. She died there on October 3, 1845, and is buried in the Rosemont cemetery.

For more information, see Volumes 1 and 2 of The Papers of Jefferson Davis.