Florence Carson Warfield Sillers (September 25, 1869 – April 5, 1958) was an American socialite and historian. A member of an influential American family with colonial ties, Sillers was a prominent figure of Mississippi society and was a founding member of the Mississippi Delta Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. She was a member of multiple lineage and historical societies including the

Colonial Dames of America The Colonial Dames of America (CDA) is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor who lived in British America from 1607 to 1775, and was of service to the colonies by either holding public office, being in th ...

, the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons, and the Mississippi Historical Society. In 1948 she published the ''History of Bolivar County, Mississippi'', a book on the history of

Bolivar County Bolivar County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale, Mississippi, Roseda ...

that glorified the

Confederacy Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

and contributed to the Lost Cause narrative.

Biography

Sillers was born on September 25, 1869 in

Booneville, Missouri Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeated the Missouri Stat ...

and grew up in Louisiana and Mississippi. She was the daughter of Colonel Elisha Warfield and Mary Anderson Carson. Her father, a planter who owned a plantation in

Bolivar County, Mississippi Bolivar County ( ) is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale and Cleveland. The county is named in honor of Simón Bolívar, earl ...

near Rosedale, served as a

Confederate Officer The ranks and insignia of the Confederate States were a Military rank, rank insignia system devised for the Military of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Confederate States Army (CSAA) Officers At the beginning of t ...

in the

2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment The 2nd Arkansas Infantry (June 1, 1861 – May 26, 1865) was an army regiment of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was raised in May 1861 under Colonel Thomas C. Hindman. It served throughout the war in the weste ...

during the American Civil War. Her paternal ancestors had come from Great Britain to the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

in the 17th century. Sillers was the great-granddaughter of the physician and horse-breeder Elisha Warfield and a grandniece of the suffragist Mary Jane Warfield Clay. In 1887, at the age of seventeen, she married

Walter Sillers Walter Sillers Sr. (March 2, 1852 – January 3, 1931) was an American lawyer, politician, businessman, and planter in Mississippi. He played a significant role in the economic, agricultural, and political culture of the Mississippi Delta region. ...

, a lawyer and member of a prominent

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

family, and had six children; Anna Farrar Sillers, Mary Sillers Skinner,

Florence Sillers Ogden Florence Carson Sillers Ogden (October 2, 1891 – June 23, 1971) was an American newspaper columnist, socialite, conservative political activist, and Racial segregation in the United States, segregationist. She wrote the column ''Dis 'n' Dat'' fo ...

Walter Sillers Jr. Walter Sillers Jr. (April 13, 1888 – September 24, 1966) was an American lawyer, politician, landowner, and white supremacist. A legislative leader from Mississippi, he served as the 56th Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives. An ...

, Evelyn Sillers Pearson, and Lillian Burrill Sillers Holleman. She was his second wife. Her husband owned several plantations in Bolivar County and was a Mississippi Democratic executive committee member. She lived with her family in a Victorian style mansion on Levee Street in Rosedale. As a prominent society figure in Mississippi, Sillers was member of multiple social societies and civic organizations including local chapters of the

, American Farm Bureau Federation,

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

, Mississippi Delta Council, and the Rosedale Country Club. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and served as treasurer of the King's Daughters Hospital of Rosedale for twenty years. She was also a member of the Texas State Historical Association and the Mississippi Historical Society. Sillers was a founding member of the Mississippi Delta Chapter of the

. She later served as regent of the Chapter. In 1948 Sillers authored a book on the history of Bolivar County, titled ''History of Bolivar County, Mississippi'', that glorified the

Antebellum South In History of the Southern United States, the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit=Status quo ante bellum, before the war) spanned the Treaty of Ghent, end of the War of 1812 to the start of ...

and the Confederate States of America. Sillers was also a member of the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons, a society for descendants of signers of the

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

. Sillers died on April 5, 1958 and is buried at Beulah Cemetery in Beulah, Mississippi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillers, Florence Warfield 1869 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American women writers American women historians Spouses of Mississippi politicians American Red Cross personnel American socialites Colonial Dames of America Daughters of the American Revolution people Historians from Mississippi Historians of the American Civil War Lost Cause of the Confederacy People from Boonville, Missouri People from Rosedale, Mississippi Florence Florence Methodists from Missouri Methodists from Mississippi