The Davis Family Settles in Wilkinson County in southwestern Mississippi

During Davis' youth, the family moved twice; in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi near the town of Woodville.

In 1813, Davis began his education together with his sister Mary, attending a log cabin school a mile from their home in the small town of Woodville, known as the Wilkinson Academy. Two years later, Davis entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, a school operated by the Dominican Order in Washington County, Kentucky. At the time, he was the only Protestant student.

Although the Davis family had established a farm and bred blooded horses on their Kentucky land, by 1810 the family returned to the Deep South. For a year they lived in Louisiana before moving to Wilkinson County, Mississippi. There, Jefferson Davis began his formal education at age five. Dissatisfied with his son’s school, Samuel Davis decided to send his seven year old son to be educated in Kentucky. Davis entered a school of the Dominican Order near Bardstown and Springfield, Kentucky. After nearly two years in the Dominican school, Davis returned home at the insistence of his mother.