Hello, friends. Welcome to our series where we are examining untold aspects of popular stories or introducing you to people you might not know.

You are going to want to buckle up and hold on tight for this one.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.

This is a tale of two women, two women who share the same first name, two women that had a deep

and consequential connection to an important figure in early America.

Two women named Theodosia. Theodosia Bartow was born in 1746, and she was the descendant of a woman who was renowned for her beauty.

Her father died a few weeks before she was born.

And when she was 17 years old, Theidoja Bartow married. She married a man named James Prevost.

Together, Theodosia and James had five children, Sally, Anna Louisa, Mary Louisa, Augustine, and John.

James Prevost was a British officer, which at the time of their marriage, more than a decade before the Declaration of Independence, was sent as this sort of ultimate dear John letter to a despotic king of England was not a particular problem, provided a good income

and allowed the provosts to live in a lovely home on a large parcel of land in New Jersey.

They called the property the Hermage. Eventually, being a British

officer did become problematic, however. As the colonies came closer and closer to rising up,

Theodosia knew that she needed to do something. The property of British soldiers was often

seized.

And to keep that from happening, Theodosia became a patriot.

James was often sent away on missions for the British Army, and while he was gone,

Theodosia opened the hermitage as a gathering place for American soldiers. When she heard that George

Washington was nearby after fighting the Battle of Monmouth, she sent word to him and offered him

and his soldiers her home as a reprieve. Theadoja was well educated-educated and well-read. She spoke French fluently,

and her aristocratic manner provided good conversation to military officers in need of time off.

Theodosia's home is now a museum, and in an interview, the director of the museum said,

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