Body in Cast-Iron Coffin is identified

Two years ago, utility workers in Washington discovered a cast-iron coffin which was assigned to the Smithsonian scientists, led by anthropologist, Doug Owsley, in an effort to determine who was buried in it. It took two years and three dozen people to identify the body. The mystery has now been solved. The body has been identified as that of 15-year old William Taylor White, who died in 1852 and was buried in the Columbia College cemetery. Later, the college became The George Washington University. Researchers now believe that when the cemetery was moved, the coffin was inadvertently left behind. The identity was made through DNA and confirmed in an obituary published in the Daily National Intelligencer newspaper dated Jan. 24, 1852 indicating that White had died after a short illness.




Source: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvBC1S2yID8Ns09Us9zY_sneDOqQ