An excavation carried out in Harewood Cemetery, located in Charles Town (in Jefferson County, West Virginia), to identify the unmarked grave of Samuel, George Washington’s younger brother, ended with the discovery of several burials that would belong to the great-nephews of the first president of the United States.
An American team of researchers began working on the site in 1999, whose former owner had been Samuel Washington himself. Experts used ground-penetrating radar to identify up to five unmarked graves, from which they collected their skeletal remains, dating back to the 1880s.
Mainly small bones and teeth were recovered, which suggested that they could match other individuals that were unearthed in 1882 to be transported to the Zion Episcopal Church, in Charles Town. Genetic analysis now performed by members of the United States Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has revealed surprising details about this long-standing mystery.
As explained by the specialists in an article published in the magazine iScience, the chromosomal DNA analysis has not only allowed us to identify the burials of the two descendants of Samuel, but also that their mother, Lucinda (Lucy), was buried at the site. Payne.
The research – which has used a new technique that analyzes tens of thousands of genomic data points called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – has also provided the first patrilineal DNA map of the first president of the United States, who had no children of his own.
“These methods have revealed kinship relationships between these unidentified human remains from the mid-19th century and a still-living descendant of Samuel Washington,” explained molecular anthropologist Charla Marshall, lead author of the article.
Samuel Washington was two years younger than George. He died in 1781 and was buried in the churchyard of his Harewood estate. Records showed that this cemetery housed up to 20 members of the Washington family, “including Samuel himself, two of his wives, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, among others,” adds researcher Courtney L. Cavagnino, co-author of the study.
Unlike George Washington, who is buried in an imposing marble tomb at Mount Vernon, Virginia, Samuel’s grave was not even marked, probably to protect it from thieves. Other burials at the site also lacked headstones, making identification of the remains difficult.
DNA tests done in 1999 were inconclusive because the samples were badly degraded and contaminated with bacteria. But analysis techniques have advanced greatly in the last 25 years and Armed Forces experts were now able to extract new samples of genetic material to reevaluate the remains.
Genetic records first established that the bones belonged to a woman and her two children. She was Lucinda Payne and the boys were Samuel’s grandsons (and George’s great-nephews): George Steptoe Washington Jr. and Dr. Samuel Walter Washington.
In 1882, the remains of several people were disinterred from Harewood and moved to tombs in the Episcopal Church. Among them were those of Lucy Payne and her children. But some of his bones were left behind. Hence they were compared to those of Samuel Walter Washington, current owner of the Harewood estate and one of the living descendants of the family.
Samuel Walter even turned out to have more DNA in common with the two deceased brothers than researchers expected, who attributed this fact to ‘pedigree collapse’. In genealogy, this name refers to the fact that marriages between relatives shorten the number of ancestors. That, in the case of the Washington family tree, was caused by multiple marriages between cousins.
The work also produced the first Y chromosome DNA profile of George Washington, as the male individuals in the study (living and deceased) “were all direct paternal descendants of Augustine Washington, the father of the first president of the United States,” he adds. Marshall talk.
This profile could clarify genealogical relationships among people who inherited the Washington surname but are unsure of their family connections “to determine who is paternally related to George Washington himself,” the study authors wrote.
It remains to be resolved, however, where Samuel is buried. His grave has not yet been discovered and researchers are about to throw in the towel, as they have not been able to identify any remains. “Perhaps they were exhumed in the past and their whereabouts could be lost forever,” they conclude.
