The Mystery Girl was found last May by construction workers, renovating a San Francisco home. Researchers said in a statement on Tuesday that the girl had finally been identified. After Dna Testing, she was found to be Edith Howard Cook, who was only two years of age when she passed away on October 13, 1876, shortly before she was to celebrate her third birthday.
Mystery girl discovered in a bronze coffin
When Edith was found last May, she was reburied by the Garden of Innocence, a nonprofit organization that offers a decent burial to unnamed children.
However, she may have been buried again, but she wasn’t forgotten.
When the little girl was first found, she was lying in a bronze coffin, and it could be seen that her family had placed a red rose in her hands and had woven lavender into her curly blond hair.
Researchers believed the coffin containing the young girl had been accidentally left behind after San Francisco's Odd Fellows Cemetery – where she was originally buried – was moved in the 1920s to Greenlawn Memorial Park. Researchers then spent much time in an attempt to identify the little girl, while digging through documents relating to the Odd Fellows Cemetery.
DNA testing proves the mystery girl’s identity
Researchers eventually found details of a plot in which Edith’s parents, Horatio and Edith Cook, had originally been buried.
They then managed to confirm Edith's identity via a DNA test, compared to a living relative of the young girl.
As reported by the New York Daily News, Pete Cook, the young girl’s grandnephew, was thrilled to find out more about his family. Cook, who lives in Marin County, had volunteered to have his DNA tested against the young girl’s and it was proven to be a match.
He said the evidence of this addition to his family tree is something he can pass on to his children.
Mystery girl found in coffin beneath SF home is identified:
— Ticia Verveer (@ticiaverveer) May 11, 2017
Edith Howard Cook https://t.co/95TfI6ApVS
More information emerges about the former mystery girl
Now Edith has officially been identified; researchers uncovered more information about the young girl.
She was the daughter of Horatio and Edith Cook and passed away at the age of 2 years and ten months in 1876. In a death notice placed in the San Francisco Bulletin, her death occurred on October 13 that year.
As noted by SFGate, the Cooks were a prominent family in San Francisco. The death of their young daughter reportedly came early in their marriage. However, two years after she passed away, the Cooks had another daughter, Ethel Cook, who was reportedly once called the most beautiful woman in the country.
A memorial service for Edith has been scheduled for June.
