Identification
By process of elimination, the list of possibilities of who
was buried in the large coffin was pared down. Some individuals were
either too old or too young at the time of death. Some individuals had
died in seasons other than winter. Some individuals had other historic
data that suggested that they could not be the occupant of the lead
coffins. When all was said and done, only one individuals was left who
could possibly have been buried in the lead coffin - Philip Calvert,
Chancellor of the Colony and youngest son of the first Lord Baltimore.
By association, the woman buried next to him was his first wife, Anne
Wolsey Calvert. This left the child buried beside Anne to be identified.
We cannot say with surety who this child was. As mentioned above,
careful recording of the soil layering helped us to create a relative
sequence of burial. The archaeology clearly demonstrated that the child
had been buried after both of the adults
Hence, the child could not be the daughter of Anne since she was buried before the child had died. A likely surmise, however, is that these are the remains of a posthumous child of Philip by his second wife, Jane Sewell. After the death of Anne Wolsey, his first wife, Philip married his 17-year-old step-niece. Philip was dead within a year. When Charles Calvert, the third Lord Baltimore returned to England in 1684, Jane went with him. It seems likely to us that Philip's last hope of posterity, an infant female, may have been interred with the rest of the family group.
Philip Calvert was a man who was closely linked to the development of
the Maryland Colony and St. Mary's City. Lois Greene Carr, historian for
Historic St. Mary's City, and Edward Papenfuse, Maryland State Archivist
have undertaken an extensive study of Philip whom they describe as
"Consummate Public Servant."
Preservation of the woman's skull was excellent, so that it was possible to create a facial reconstruction. A specialist in art and forensic analysis began with a perfect cast of the woman's skull and began to build up the face based on standard tissue thickness and hair color based on samples from the coffin along with a best guess as to eye color. Now this person can look back to us from across the centuries. |
