Last month I finished reading Cokie Roberts' latest book, Capital Dames. As with her earlier books (Founding Mothers and Ladies of Liberty), Roberts researched extensively to uncover personal anecdotes about American women of the time period and then skillfully wove their stories together. I found Varina Davis to be particularly compelling. Her husband, Jefferson Davis, was President of the Confederate States of America. I have to admit I'd thought little about the impact of the Civil War on southern women when secession forced them to leave Washington. Varina Davis was an intelligent woman with "highly perceptive political insights," according to Roberts. She was, however, ambivalent about the war. After her husband's death she befriended prominent figures, e.g., Julia (Mrs. Ulysses) Grant, and helped to reconcile the North and South. An IrishCentral article earlier this week tells a related story, about Mary O'Melia who was housekeeper for the Davises in the Confederacy White House in Richmond, VA. O'Melia was confidante to Varina Davis. When the Davis family fled from Richmond in April 1865, O'Melia stayed behind to oversee the mansion, and she was probably still there when Abraham Lincoln visited later that month. Recently a woman whose late husband may have been related to O'Melia shared a photo of the housekeeper. Until the picture surfaced, Mary O'Melia was an "elusive figure" whose face had not been seen for 150 years. You can read more about Mary O'Melia and see her photo here: www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/Photo-found-of-Irish-housekeeper-of-Confederate-White-House-.html Stories like this further discourage me from throwing away all those old, unidentified photos. Someone famous could be pictured among them, just waiting for me to figure out who it is...