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Biographies
of Tensas
Parish
SARAH
ANN DORSEY
Sarah
Ann Dorsey
died in New
Orleans on
Saturday, July
4th. She was
the daughter
of Thomas G.
Ellis, a
planter in
Mississippi,
and was born
in Natchez,
February 16,
1829. She
received a
careful
education, and
enjoyed the
advantage of
extended
foreign
travel. Her
mother was the
sister of the
poetess and
novelist Mrs.
Catherine Anne
Warfield, née
Ware,
authoress of
" Poems
by Two Sisters
of the
West,"
" The
Household of
Bouverie,"
"
Beauseincourt,"
and other
romances
marked by a
certain wild,
untutored
originality.
This lady, who
died in 1877,
exercised a
formative
influence on
her niece, who
became her
literary
executor, Mrs.
Warfield
having left in
her hands a
mass of
manuscript,
the greater
part of which
is still
unpublished.
After her
mother's
second
marriage,
Sarah Ellis,
on January 19,
1853, married
Samuel W.
Dorsey of
Ellicott's
Mills,
Maryland. At
the time he
was practicing
law and
planting in
Tensas Parish,
Louisiana. Mr.
Dorsey was a
man of
ability,
wealth, and
social
position, and,
despite
disparity of
years, the
union proved a
happy one.
Mrs. Dorsey
was fond of
society,
travel. and
literature.
Having no
children, she
gave herself
unreservedly
to the
indulgence of
these tastes.
She spoke
fluently
several modern
languages, was
a proficient
in Greek and
Latin, and an
ardent student
of Sanskrit.
She published
a biography of
Governor Henry
W. Allen of
Louisiana, and
the novels
" Athalie,"
"Lucia
Dare,"
"Agnes
Graham,"
and "Panola."
Of these
"Panola"
is the latest,
having
appeared in
1877, and
" Agnes
Graham "
is the best
known. In
addition she
wrote a
treatise on
the Aryan
philosophy,
and was an
industrious
contributor to
various
journals and
periodicals.
Mrs. Dorsey
was at one
time an
Episcopalian
with high
ritualistic
tendencies.
She built a
chapel on her
plantation,
and devoted
herself to the
religious
instruction of
her slaves.
Her studies of
comparative
theology and
investigations
of Eastern
systems for a
while
unsettled her
covictious ;
but these
doubts passed
away, and
during her
lingering
illness she
was sustained
by the faith
of her
childhood. She
was widely
known in
literary
circles at
home and
abroad. She
kept up an
active
interchange of
ideas with
savants in
India,
Germany,
Italy, France,
and England.
Among her
correspondents
were the
Rossettis,
Dean Stanley,
Carlyle,
Herbert
Spencer, and
other
celebrities.
Mrs. Dorsey
was far more
distinguished
as a
conversationalist
than as a
writer. Her
quick
intellect and
fervent
affections
gave her a
peculiar
charm. By
temperament
she was a
hero-worshiper.
She was
enthusiastic
and unchanging
in her
friendships.
Although her
means were
much
diminished
after the war,
the
hospitality of
her home was
as freely
extended as
ever. There
Mr. Jefferson
Davis and his
family were
frequent and
honored guests
during the
years of
poverty and
misfortune
following the
failure of the
Confederacy.
Mrs. Dorsey
made no secret
of her
intention to
constitute Mr.
Davis or one
of his
children her
heir, and thus
do her part
toward
repairing his
losses. Having
given
liberally to
her own family
during her
lifetime, and
deriving her
entire means
from her
husband, she
felt herself
entitled to
make this
disposition of
her property,
and only
regretted the
smallness of
the legacy.
The appraised
value of her
whole estate
is under
twenty-five
thousand
dollars. After
the death of
Mr. Dorsey in
1875, she
removed from
her plantation
in Tensas
Parish, and
resided at
Beauvoir, a
small place on
the
Gulf-shore.
Here she
continued to
employ herself
in literary
labors,
chiefly acting
as amanuensis
to Mr. Davis,
in the
progress of
whose
autobiography
she felt a
profound
interest.
These
occupations
she never
intermitted,
although
suffering from
the ravages of
an hereditary
malady, an
internal
cancer, which
would have
disabled one
with less
powers of
endurance.
When it became
necessary, she
faced the
alternatives
of life and
death with
composure.
Removing to
New Orleans,
she submitted
calmly to a
surgical
operation
which proved
unavailing.
She died
professing
herself at
peace with the
world and in
the Christian
faith, and
left behind
her an
unblemished
character. source:
Appletons'
Annual
Cyclopaedia
and Register
of Important
Events
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