MODEST TOWN [Virginia] – Modest Town Baptist Cemetery will be the setting of an unusual memorial service Oct. 10 for an Accomack County child who died nearly 160 years ago.
William Taylor White, an orphan who died of pneumonia at age 15 in 1852, became the focus of a forensic investigation that made national headlines after his cast-iron coffin was unearthed in 2005 by utility workers replacing a gas line in Washington.
Many of his family members will attend the 3 p.m. graveside service, including the Pennsylvania woman whose DNA provided the key to the boy’s identity. Smithsonian Institution researchers who helped identify White also plan to be there, as does Eastern Shore Public Library staffer Rachelle Luttig, whose genealogical research found hundreds of White’s relatives.
Read the full article by Carol Vaughn in the October 3, 2009 delmarvanow.com.
