By Associated Press Mary O'Melia left Ireland for America as a young widow with three children before she was hired as housekeeper at the White House of the Confederacy. An intimate witness to history, she also has been much of a mystery. That was until this year, when a woman with a distinctive Irish lilt to her voice called The American Civil War Museum. The housekeeper, the woman said, was related to her late husband, and she had in her possession a necklace that Confederate first lady Varina Davis gave O'Melia. But there was more. Housekeeper: Mary O'Melia is seen in an undated photo provided by the American Civil War Museum. She served at the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia as housekeeper for Jefferson Davis and his first lady, Varina Davis
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Mary O'Melia left Ireland for America as a young widow with three children before she was hired as housekeeper at the White House of the Confederacy
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O'Melia was among a staff of 20, was a confidante to the first lady, and may have been in the mansion in April 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln visited after Confederate defenders left the city smoldering
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In 1861, she left her children with relatives and headed to visit friends in Richmond, where she was marooned when Virginia left the Union
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Told by friends Varina Davis could help her return north, she appealed to the Roman Catholic bishop to intercede on her behalf
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Davis prevailed upon O'Melia to take the position as housekeeper and companion to the first lady despite being separated from her children
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O'Melia would eventually remain at the Confederate White House until Richmond's fall in 1865
Despite her perch within the @placeholder seat of power, O'Melia left little written accounts of her years in Richmond.