Annie Rowan Forney Daugette was the daughter of
major General John H. Forney, C.S.A., and Septima Sexta Middleton (Rutledge)
Forney. Her father was famous for his part in the defense of Vicksburg and was
a descendant of Revolutionary War General Peter Forney; her mother, a
descendant of Edward Rutledge and Arthur Middleton. Mrs. Daugette was raised in
Jacksonville, Alabama and was a graduate of the State Normal School, now
Jacksonville State University.
While attending Cooper Union Art School and
National Academy of Design in New York City, Annie Forney was awarded the
Elliot Medal in 1896. On December 22, 1897, she married Dr. Clarence William
Daugette, who for forty-three years was the president of the State Normal
School. She devoted her life during his lifetime to his career and her four
children.
From 1937 to 1939, Annie served as president of
the Alabama Division, of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. While
president, she inaugurated a movement for the restoration of Alabama's original
Great Seal and conducted a campaign which met with unanimous approval of the
1939 General Assembly. She drew the present Great Seal of Alabama. She was made
honorary Life President of the Alabama Division, U.D.C. on May 10,
1952.
On a national level, Mrs. Daugette's determined
efforts brought passage of a resolution, introduced by Senator Lister Hill of
Alabama, by the United States Congress which designated the proper term for the
conflict of the 1860's as "The War Between the States," and was entered as such
in the Congressional Record.
It was maintained through her efforts that in
1939 the State of Iowa returned the long lost banner of the Independent State
of Alabama where it had been since the Capitol in Montgomery was ransacked by
union soldiers during the War Between the States. It is now in the State
Archives with other flags that have flown over Alabama.
In 1970, Annie Rowan Forney Daugette was awarded
the Honorary Doctor of Humanities by Jacksonville State University,
Jacksonville, Alabama. |