One of the relatives who really caught my imagination was Anna Ewing Cockrell, daughter of Hon. Francis Marion Cockrell. He was a six-time US Senator, General in the Confederate Army, and brother of my Gr Gr Grandmother Nancy Cockrell Logan. Anna's mother died when she was young, so she was sent off to a convent until she was of age. She came out in Washington society to much fanfare, became a close friend of the President''s daughter and served as her father's hostess until her marriage to the Hon Lambros A Coromilas, first Greek Ambassador to US. They returned to Greece where he became a member of the King's cabinet (until he was ousted) and then Ambassador to Italy. He escaped the fate of his nephews who followed him into the cabinet - - they were shot by a firing squad after the king was again tossed out of Greece.
After her husband's death, Anna fell in love with Marchese Camillo Casati, former husband of the enormously wealthy and eccentric Luisa Amman. Anna and the Marchese lived in Rome in the Palazzo Barberini in the 1920s and 30s. The Palazzo was built for Maffeo Barberini (Pope Urban 8th) in the early 1600s. It was designed by Carlo Maderno and Bernini. To pay his debts, his descendant, Prince Henry Barberini, filled the Palazzo with illustrious tenants until he sold it to the National Gallery in 1949. In 1928, Anna and Camillo Casati hosted the wedding Anna’s niece, Marion Gallaudet, in the Palazzo. It was attended by American ex-patriots and Italian society and was mentioned in articles in American newspapers that I have been able to find. I was very excited to be able to visit the place in person!
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