It's quite possible that a sister of the late wife had been living with the family for years, helping with the children, and knew both everyone in the household quite well as well as how the household was run. There were no career opportunities for single white women in Colonial Virginia. A single white woman could live with family if no gentlemen showed up with an interest in marriage. However, if she were Catholic and there was means enough, she could arrange to enter an English- speaking nuns' monastery in Europe. Elizabeth Whitaker Michael B. Chesson wrote: > And don't forget that Dickens married a sister of his late wife; there is an attraction sometimes, for some people, to the sibling of a beloved spouse. > > Michael Chesson > > > ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html