Fanny Davenport is quite portly now, but Miss Coghlan was a member of her company and remembers the day that she was not plump. The picture shows her at the age of 3, and also shows that she was a very fat little girl. Her mother is holding her in her lap. The picture was taken more than thirty years ago—exactly how much more it would be impossible to say. Miss Fanny was an extremely pretty child, and the idol of her father, E.L Davenport, an actor of great ability. He was a close friend of the late Edwin Booth, and that noted master of the stage had a great admiration for the theatrical talent of the elder Davenport. Miss Davenport wrote a play which she called Farwell, at the tender age of 10 years, and she acted the leading part, to the extreme delight of the neighboring children and her father.
Edwin Booth was a constant visitor at the Davenport house. He was fond of Miss Fannie, and it is related that he often used to sit near her at the children’s table in the house in preference to dining with the adult members of the family at the more abundantly supplied table. The picture of Mr. Booth shows him at the age of 28, when his daughter Edwina, by the first wife, was scarcely more than a baby.
Los Angeles Herald 3/18/1895: 9. Print.