Varina Howell was born to Virginians William B Howeel and Margaret Lousia Kempe on 7 May 1826 in Natchez, Mississippi. Her Grandfather, Richard Howell, was governor of New Jersey for numerous terms.

Varina attended Madame Greenland's school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1844, when she was 17 years old, Varina met 36-year-old Jefferson Davis. In 1845, the two married at "the Briars," her parents' home in Natchez. She became the first (and last) First Lady of the Confederate States of America when Hefferson Davis became the President of the Confederate States. In the early 1870s, with the help and aide of a friend, Jefferson and Varina purchased "Beauvoir," the Mississippi estate to which they retired. Following Jefferson Davis's death in 1889, Varina published "Jefferson Davis, A Momoir" in 1890. She then moved to New York City, New York in 1891 to pursue a literary career and gave Beauvoir to the state of Mississippi as a Confederate veterans' home. She died in New York City on 16 October 1905, survived only by one of her 6 children.