My grandmother told me this photograph was of Mata Hari, and that it was autographed for my grandma's Uncle Luther, who "spied with her during the Civil War". She also believed that he was once imprisioned at Andersonville. I later found that none of the story was true. In fact, "Uncle Luther" was discharged, for medical reasons, one month after he enlisted, even before his unit even left town. However, to a child, the story was riveting, and fueled my passion for genealogy. Ironically, the picture is of a spy.....but not Mata Hari. Rather, the woman in the photograph, is Belle Boyd, the Confederate Spy. The signature was authenticated by the Charles Hamilton Gallery, in New York, in 1978.

The second irony, is that this inherited "treasure", is of a woman, who is a non-relative! Don't it just figure?

MY FILE CABINET