Whether it be profitable or not, it is at least pertinent to consider so interesting a personage as Fanny Davenport for what she might have been, as well as for what she was. The death of this actress brings to an end a potential career. Miss Davenport came of illustrious histrionic stock. She enjoyed the advantages of hereditary instinct and talent for the stage, and her early training was all that could have been desired. She rose by natural but rapid degrees to a high position in her profession. She was not superlatively gifted as an interpretive genius, but she had a vast and serviceable talent, which is often more to the purpose in making a reputation. She was essentially an emotional actress, although she will be remembered for by many as a most charming comedienne, especially among those who saw her in the earlier days of her distinction. She inherited the versatility of her father, E. L. Davenport [. . .]

Had Fanny Davenport devoted herself a more wholesome school of drama with the same zeal, with the same lavish expenditure of money, with the same intelligence as to artistic elaboration, she would not only have marked an epoch in American stage production, but she would have been an element of moral strength to the stage, an inspiration to those of her profession and an idol of the people.

The Kansas City Journal 9/28/1898: 4. Print.

Davenport, The Kansas City Journal, 9/28/1898, 4