The Kendall County Coroner’s Office has identified the human skeletal remains found by Yorkville work crews in May as a woman between 18 and 25 years old who died in the mid-1800s, officials announced on Monday.
The remains were not able to be identified through traditional methods, like DNA tests or dental records, because of the age and condition of the recovered remains, according to a news release from the Kendall County Coroner’s Office. However, using historical records and local knowledge, the person was identified as Lucy M. Crater, a resident of historic Bristol and daughter of Abraham and Martha (nee Dix) Crater, the release said.
“The Kendall County Coroner’s Office wishes to emphasize that Ms. Crater was a cherished member of her family and a pioneer of Kendall County,” officials said on a website dedicated to the investigation. “Despite this unintended occurrence, we remain steadfast in honoring Ms. Crater with the dignity that she deserves.”
Crater was born around July 1828 and died on Sept. 13, 1848, according to the release. It said her extended family also has connections to multiple notable Kendall County families, including the Beecher and Sanders families.
Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell made the decision to move Crater’s remains to Elmwood Cemetery in Yorkville, which keeps with the tradition of moving many of the original Kendall County pioneers from the Bristol Burying Grounds to Elmwood, the release said.
In May, construction crews working to repair water pipes in the 200 block of Park Street uncovered the human remains, which prompted a response from the Coroner’s Office, the Yorkville Police Department and the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Services Section.
Those authorities, with help from the Kendall County Historical Society, determined that the remains likely came from the 1800s because records show that a cemetery, the Bristol Burying Grounds, used to sit on the spot. The identify of the remains are consistent with that time period, the release said.
In total, authorities found over 100 individual bones at the site, according to a website about the investigation. Those bones were sent to Anne Grauer, a professor of biological anthropology at Loyola University and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Paleopathology, for analysis.
Grauer sent the results of her analysis to the Kendall County Coroner’s Office near the end of June, the website said. That analysis detailed the physical characteristics of the body and noted that there was no evidence of trauma or foul play.
After over 100 hours of research from the Kendall County Coroner’s Office, it was determined that the Bristol Burying Grounds stopped being used sometime after 1870, the website said. Maps from the period stop showing the cemetery after that year.
On the Coroner’s Office website, officials said it is unknown how many bodies were relocated from the cemetery. However, some gravestones within Elmwood Cemetery show that at least some of the graves were moved, since the dates of death pre-date Elmwood Cemetery’s creation, the website said.
Some tombstones were also moved from the Bristol Burying Grounds to Elmwood Cemetery, but they do not have associated gravesites, according to the website. Officials said that it is believed the bodies associated with these tombstones may not have been moved from the Bristol Burying Grounds.
A list of these headstones was compiled by local resident Elmer Dickson prior to his death, the website said.
Officials compared the results from Grauer’s study with the list of missing bodies compiled by Dickson and found only one person that matched: Crater, who died at 20 years old, the website said. Since birth and death certificates were not yet required to be filed with county authorities, no record exists that show her cause and manner of death, officials said.
After figuring out the identity of the remains, the Coroner’s Office turned its attention to tracking Crater’s lineage to find a next-of-kin, according to the website. It said a total of five ancestors and 188 indirect descendants were found, including three living descendants in Illinois, Iowa and Texas.
After permission from the three living descendants, the Elmwood Cemetery board donated a grave plot for Crater and offered burial services at-cost, the website said. The Coroner’s Office is weighing next steps to balance respect for Crater and the responsible use of taxpayer funds, officials said.
A Crater family tree, with living relatives redacted for privacy, can be found on the investigation’s webpage: www.kendallcountyil.gov/offices/coroner/news-public-information/lucy-crater
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
