Jenny Horne: How a descendant of the president of the Confederacy helped vanquish his flag

The Washington Post ^ | July 9, 2015 | Michael E. Miller

[Brown Deer]

And for a moment, it seemed as if the Confederate flag just might keep flying after all.

But then Jenny Horne decided that she had had enough.

The 42-year-old lawyer from Summerville stepped up to the podium and delivered words so raw and impassioned they would immediately go viral on the Internet.

Perhaps the most surprising and powerful part of Horne’s speech came when she invoked her lineage to Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

“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.”

[SoFloFreeper]

Sorry, hearing her scream like a baby into the microphone was pathetic. She didn’t sound like a legislator, she sounded like a hysterical woman.

Not reasonable, just a shrill voice trying to shame people for loving heritage.

[Andy'smom]

Let us know what you find out. It doesn’t seem likely.

[llabradoodlle]

Is it too obvious to ask if Jefferson Davis had illegitimate children? I assume I’m not the first to think it but I don’t know how you would verify that. She may not pass the “even one drop” test. Or he may have been so gallant that many women swooned. He would have been a sort of mid 19th century rock star. And today’s hipsters have nothing on the bizarre facial hair of then.

[Brown Deer]

"I would march through the gates of hell for Barack Obama." ~~ Diana Gale Matthiesen

[Connie Mack]

https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/a-descendant-of-jefferson-davis-a-question-for-jenny-anderson-horne/

She’s not a descendant of Jefferson Davis. A number of folks on Twitter ranthis down. The link above is a good summary page (with links to the genealogy for Rep. Horne available from public records and for Jefferson Davis, available from Rice University).

Her local paper has been notifed, and they do nothing. Same for WaPo, NYT, etc. nobody wants to upset the narrative.

[Connie Mack]

There is no indication of this. Google the “jefferson davis genealogy rice university” and you’ll get the starting point.

[Brown Deer]

The author of the article I posted, has ignored my emails, in which I proved that Horne is a liar.

[Brown Deer]

Concise Ancestry of S.C. Rep. Jenny Anderson Horne (version 1.09)

Note: This regards the claim of descent from the President of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis. His great grandchildren at birth used the following surnames only: Webb, Young, Hayes, Davis. They lived in the 20th century. See sources below.

First Generation

Jenny Anderson born Oct 12, 1972. Married Marc F. Horne May 11, 1996.

Second Generation

John Daniel Anderson, Jr., and Cynthia Williams

Third Generation

John Daniel Anderson Sr., (Nov. 22, 1923-Jul. 27, 1970) and Queenie Bell Ahl (b. cir. 1926-present)
James Pryor Williams (Aug. 29, 1923-Oct. 10, 1987) and Imogene Swicegood

Fourth Generation

Merdick Luther Anderson (1898-1940) and Bertha R. (1894-1940) (Family from Michigan)
Dewey Wade Ahl (1897-1981) and Alice Mae Infinger (1891-1945)
Fred James Williams (b. Oct 1897) and Lida Mae Pryor (b. cir. 1901, Alabama) (Living in Maryville, TN at son’s birth)
John Willis Swicegood (1885 - 1948) and Annie Caroline Bell (1891 - 1962)

Fifth Generation (incomplete)

John Capers All (1860-1949) and Eva Ann Brant (1860-1945)
Nathaniel Infinger* (1838-1907) and Anna Malissa Infinger (1868-1916)
James Madison Williams Jr. (1867-1941) and Sophronia Tennessee Gibson (1865-1942)
Henry Franklin Swicegood** (1834 - 1908) and Susan Lucy Sink (1836 - 1908)

* Co. B, 11th Reg., SC Infantry, CSA
** Co. D, 48th Reg., NC Infantry, CSA

Additional thoughts and research directions for more distant collateral lines:

The mother of Henry Franklin Swicegood was Sophia Davis (1811-1881) who had a brother named Evan Davis. Suggests this particular Davis line was Welsh as well in the past (Evan is Welsh for John). Ostensibly, no link to the ancestral immigrant ancestor of Jefferson Davis.

The family of Lida Mae Pryor may prove fruitful for a potential collateral connection. Well educated, it is possible she had knowledge of some connection to the greater Jefferson Davis family.

The paternal grandmother of Jefferson Davis, Mary Emory, was a widow of a Mr. Williams. She is recorded as having two sons from that marriage.

Anderson genealogy sources:

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=0871590805
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26670275
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24187757
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hatcher-rizer&id=I2344&style=TABLE
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=60626392
1930, 1940 US Census, Blount co., TN
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/mccauley/2047/
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39382506
http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=5882&p=localities.northam.usa.states.michigan.unknown
http://records.ancestry.com/anna_malissa_infinger_records.ashx?pid=103810593

Note Sources:

https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/Genealogy.aspx
http://dgmweb.net/JeffDavisHome.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/09/south-carolina-rep-jenny-horne-on-her-historic-and-surprisingly-personal-speech-it-needed-to-be-done/

Corrections and additions appreciated. Contact @zippy_ghost on Twitter.

[Connie Mack]

There is no indication of this. Google the “jefferson davis genealogy rice university” and you’ll get the starting point.

[Connie Mack]

There is no indication of this. Google the “jefferson davis genealogy rice university” and you’ll get the starting point.

[llabradoodlle]

When I go to https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/Genealogy.aspx

It shows descendants in the “Mary Ellen Davis” family continuing into the early 20th century and having 6 children here and some over there. Some of the other family branches do as well. I’m not a genealogist but it seems possible that she could be a child of someone descending and born in the not too early twentieth. The charts didn’t entirely make sense to me so I could be reading wrong.

[llabradoodlle]

As well ... Some of the possibilities I mentioned might fall into the known but politely not-documented.

[Brown Deer]

and even if so, how would that make her a descendant of Jefferson Davis?

[wardaddy]

I do not mean any offense but what you just stated is how they did it

[Connie Mack]

Jenny Horne seems ready to try to bootstrap her fake descendant claim into a congressional seat:

http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article27220204.html

No comments on that story — requires a Facebook logon, and I don’t have one. Even a sock-puppet account. :(

[Brown Deer]

"Horne, who was first elected to House District 94 in 2008, said 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." ~~ The Post and Courier

She's not even directly related, much less a descendant.