Mystery solved! 19th-century girl in casket found under S. Fran house identified

[jimmy olsen]

Some impressive research to figure out who this was.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/09/mystery-solved-19th-century-girl-in-casket-found-under-san-francisco-house-identified/

Mystery solved! 19th-century girl in casket found under San Francisco house identified

SAN FRANCISCO — The mysterious little girl holding a single flower, found buried in a casket underneath a San Francisco home — captivating the Bay Area's curiosity — has been identified.

Edith Howard Cook, the second born child and first born daughter of Horatio Nelson and Edith Scooffy Cook, died Oct. 13, 1876, at the age of 2 years, 10 months and 15 days, according to nonprofit Garden of Innocence, which spent a year trying to identify her. The girl was buried in the family plot in the Yerba Buena section of the Odd Fellows Cemetery two days after she died. That year, Ulysses S. Grant was president and San Franciscans had their first opportunity to ride the Transcontinental Express to New York in under four days.

"We're really excited. They did a lot of crazy work to find out who she was," said Garden of Innocence volunteer Erica Hernandez, whose organization released a detailed nine-page report Tuesday. "All the information that should've been kept by the cemetery wasn't kept."

The girl had been given the name "Miranda Eve" last year shortly after a family found her in her airtight metal casket in the Lone Mountain neighborhood of San Francisco during a remodeling project. The casket contained a leaded glass window through which they could see a 2-to-3-year-old girl holding the flower. The resident turned the ornate casket over to the Garden of Innocence, a charity that buries unclaimed children, to handle the girl's affairs.

Funeral home records show Edith died from marasmus, or severe undernourishment. It's not clear what caused the illness, but in late 1800s urban living could have led to an infectious disease, the nonprofit said.

Information released Tuesday reveals that Edith was born into two prominent families in the world of commerce and society. Her mother was born into a San Francisco pioneer family, as her father Peter Scooffy was an original member of the Society of California Pioneers.

Horatio Cook and Edith Scooffy married in 1870 and baby Edith's father tanned hides and manufactured leather belts. He also served as Consul for Greece.

After her death at a young age, Edith's parents had another daughter, Ethel Cook, who was declared by a Russian nobleman as the most beautiful woman in America, the nonprofit reported.

Young Edith was given an ornate burial. A mortician who assisted with her reburial last year found she was clothed in a white christening dress embellished with elaborate lace work, according to the nonprofit. She wore ankle high shoes similar to "baby booties," and tiny purple "false indigo" flowers were woven into her hair and on a long necklace, similar to a rosary, according to the report.

The mortician also clarified that what was believed to be a single red rose in the girl's right hand was actually a purple Nightshade flower. Roses, eucalyptus leaves and baby's breath were also placed along her body.

Investigators determined her ornate casket was bought at N. Gray & Co. Undertakers in San Francisco, which was the sole agent for an East Coast company that made those types of coffins that promised in advertisements to be a "perfect protection from water and vermin."

The big break in solving the girl's identity was finding a map of the old cemetery at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Using the map, researchers focused on two sections of the cemetery based on the location of the house where the casket was found. Investigators used other maps and digitally layered them to narrow it down further.

The girl was apparently left behind when the other 26,000 remains from the Odd Fellows Cemetery in the Richmond District were moved to Colma's Greenlawn Memorial Park around 1920.

With her ornate casket and approximate age, researchers focused on child interments in those two sections of the cemetery — logging more than 1,000 hours of research, Garden of Innocence said — and found two possible candidates. Living relatives were found for both children and DNA samples collected, but only one matched.

The DNA of Peter Cook, a Marin County resident, matched a hair sample from Edith, whose remains were well-preserved in the intricate casket. Cook is Edith's grand nephew. He was not available for comment Tuesday.

Garden of Innocence provided a headstone and memorial service for Edith, when she was still known as "Miranda Eve," last June in Colma. They left one side blank in case they could eventually identify her. The group now plans to etch her real name and information into the stone and hold another memorial service June 10 at Colma's Greenlawn Memorial Park at 11 a.m. The ceremony will be open to the public.

The group of researchers involved in this project now plan to work on identifying the remains of three other individuals found on the former Odd Fellows Cemetery, including the remains of a child found by construction workers in 2000.

[Caliga]

Maybe someday they'll solve the Boy in the Box mystery via DNA, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_in_the_Box_(Philadelphia)

This happened when my mom was in elementary school and it was a traumatic event for her and her schoolmates.