The Black housekeeper who worked for Thaddeus Stevens for most of his later years.

She is notable because Stevens treating her as an equal and demanding that all guests in his house do the same led to scathing editorials accusing Stevens of all sorts of misconduct. Thaddeus Stevens being the lawyer curmudgeon that he was filed libel suits and almost always won.

The most common implication was that Lydia Smith and Thaddeus Stevens were romantically involved. Stevens usually failed to file suit on these allegations out of his regard for her feelings.

Stevens even spent a fair amount of effort trying to find a cemetery where they could be buried side by side though Lydia Smith decided to buy her plot elsewhere.

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