In the 1800s, an intriguing girl was found under a house in San Francisco. Her body was intact in a small lead and bronze coffin, and her well-preserved hands clutched a single red rose. It had been a mystery for years.
The investigation by the Garden of Innocence Project says the child — who not only astonished the work crew who stumbled over the casket at the edge of the Richmond District cemetery officials thought the bodies had all been moved — is Edith Howard Cook.
Edith was a month and a half short of her third birthday when she died on Oct. 13, 1876, according to researchers working with the South San Francisco’s Garden of Innocence.
The cause of her death? Probably an infection caused by an infantile respiratory disease, the researchers said.
The term “had been working to identify the girl since her body was discovered during a home remodel project near Lone Mountain nearly one year ago,” said Eric Harnandez, a project spokesman.
The researchers, who included staff at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, located records from the old cemetery that were ruined by the Indian Order of Odd Fellows until about 1902, when the graves were relocated to Colma.
Although the paperwork was “unorganized,” Hernandez said, the team tracked down living relatives from a DNA sample to verify their findings. That confirmation came when a sample from Edith’s hair matched that of Peter Cook, a descendant of her brother, who lives in Marina County.
Edith Howard Cook was the second child and first daughter of Horatio Nelson and Edith Scooffy Cook. Peter Cook is descended from Edith’s older brother, Milton H. Cook.
Edith’s family was believed to be of decent means, having buried the child in a relatively expensive metal casket 37 inches in length, with two viewing windows on the lid.
Her skin and hair, as well as her burial flowers, were well preserved. She was one of about 30,000 people with graves at the old Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Why her remains weren’t transported to Colma around 1920, when the city was tasked to make room for the living, remains a mystery.
