Hunting for Caswell

After a full day of digging in 80-degree temperatures, cheers went up around 5:30 p.m. Friday as East Carolina University researchers stuck an object that could be the coffin of Gov. Richard Caswell.

"They're saying they've found signs of a coffin," Valerie Howell said over the telephone as the diggers could be heard cheering in the background.

Howell and her fellow members of the Moseley-Bright chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution have spearheaded the ongoing effort to search for the final resting place of Caswell.

It is suspected that he is buried in his family's cemetery, located on the Caswell State Historic Site in Kinston. The DAR chapter has owned and cared for the cemetery since a descendant of the governor deeded it to them in 1929.

Howell said the chapter continued to own the cemetery even after the state took control of the entire Caswell property in the early 1960s.

In the late 90s, chapter members decided to fix a fence that their predecessors had built around the cemetery. It had fallen into disrepair over the years as storms and falling branches from a nearby tree, which was cut down last spring, took their toll.

Following the fence repairs, chapter members decided to restore the standing grave markers, including one for Caswell's daughter, Susan Gatlin.

Howell said the cemetery restoration "mushroomed" into digging for the late governor's grave.

"The project has grown from one to five six or seven," Howell said, laughing. "We stated out trying to repair the fence and now we're doing archeology."

The dig, lead by ECU anthropology professors Charles Ewen and Megan Perry, plus several of their graduate students, began around 9 a.m. Friday morning and continued throughout the day.

The group used a tractor to scrape away the topsoil then attacked the underlying sandy soil with shovels and trowels.

By late afternoon, the researchers had uncovered a brick crypt, the possible burial site of Caswell's first wife, who died before him.

To the right of the wife's tomb lay the potential burial places of Caswell and his second wife. His daughter's headstone still stands.

A large crowd of onlookers had gathered, including members of Lenoir County's Colonial Commission, the Historical Preservation Group and the DAR chapter. Genealogical researchers and several possible Caswell descendants they had found also watched, along with the Historic Site staff.

While the students mapped the site with surveying equipment, Ewen explained that the group is looking for the intact skeleton of a 60-year-old white male, which a DNA sample could be extracted from.

He said the reason why Caswell's exact grave site is unknown is because he was in debt by the time he died in 1789. He had been much wealthier when his first wife died, allowing him to build a crypt for her, but Caswell's lack of funds later on meant his family could not give him a proper grave, or care for it.

After they hit the coffin, which was about four feet down, the group discovered water around it. They decided to come back Saturday to siphon out the water and continue digging.

"We couldn't have done this without the help of the staff of the Caswell Historic Site and the folks from the Moseley-Bright chapter of the DAR," Ewen said.