The Howell family home, furnishings and slaves were seized by creditors to be sold at public auction.[7] Her mother's Kempe relatives intervened to redeem the family's property. It was one of several sharp changes in fortune that Varina would encounter in her life. She grew to adulthood in a house called The Briars, when Natchez was a thriving city, but she learned that her family was dependent on the wealthy Kempe relatives of her mother's family to avoid poverty.