William Newton Daviess (1811-1881), son of Capt. Samuel Daviess, and nephew of Col. Joseph Hamilton Daveiss. Maj. William Daviess lived on a beautiful estate called "Hayfields," at 122 East Poplar Street, near Harrodsburg. He was celebrated throughout the State as a raconteur, a historian, a student of human nature, a great reader of books, as well as men; he had a strong judicial mind, having been educated for the law. In the State Senate Maj. Daviess represented his district for two years and at one time when offered a nomination for Congress, declined, saying that "politics sooner or later engulfs men's souls," and he might not be able to withstand the temptations offered. Thereafter, he lived the life of a "Latin farmer," with his home always open to strangers and friends. After Daviess was widowed, she ran the family's large farm of . The couple had at least two daughters, Hannah Daviess Pittman, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Annie T. Daviess; as well as at least one son, John Burton T. Daviess, the father of artist and novelist, Maria Thompson Daviess, for whom Daviess was a role model. Death and legacy Daviess died in Harrodsburg, December 19, 1896. In 1886, Daviess published a History of Mercer and Boyle Counties, Ky., in installments in the Harrodsburg Democrat. It was republished in 1924 in book form. D. M. Hutton, Editor The Harrodsburg Herald, wrote the preface to the 1924 publication of History of Mercer and Boyle Counties, Ky.:— Selected works Poetry "Cultivation and Uses of the Chinese Sugar-Cane" "The Nun" "A Harvest Hymn" Books Poems Roger Sherman, A Tale of '76 Woman's Love History of Mercer and Boyle Counties (1886, in the columns of the Harrodsburg Democrat) History of Mercer and Boyle Counties (1924; book) References Attribution 1814 births 1896 deaths 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American essayists 19th-century American historians 19th-century pseudonymous writers Kentucky women historians Writers from Kentucky People from Harrodsburg, Kentucky Pseudonymous women writers Kentucky women writers