October 29, 2024
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Remains of 19th century Bristol woman, accidentally unearthed, have been reburied

Lucy Crater died in 1848, was accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew

By Eric Schelkopf
The remains of a woman who died in 1848 that were accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew doing utility work in the 200 block of Park Street in Yorkville have been reburied.

The remains of a woman who died in 1848 that were accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew doing utility work in the 200 block of Park Street in Yorkville have been reburied. (Provided by the Kendall County Coroner's Office)

The remains of a woman who died in 1848 accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew have been reburied.

The Kendall County Coroner’s Office on Oct. 24 facilitated the reinterment of Lucy Crater at Elmwood Cemetery on Somonauk Street in Yorkville. The effort was made possible through the donation of burial space from the Elmwood Cemetery Board along with financial support from the city of Yorkville.

Crater was interred near her existing headstone and those of other early pioneers of Kendall County, who were originally laid to rest in the Bristol Burying Grounds.

“Ms. Crater’s story and legacy hold significant historical importance for our community and deserve to be remembered,” Levi Gotte, chief deputy coroner for the Kendall County Corner’s Office, said in a news release. “The Kendall County Coroner’s Office encourages community members to honor her memory by sharing her story or visiting her gravesite as they see fit.”

The remains of a woman who died in 1848 that were accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew doing utility work in the 200 block of Park Street in Yorkville have been reburied.

The remains of a woman who died in 1848 that were accidentally unearthed in May by a contractor crew doing utility work in the 200 block of Park Street in Yorkville have been reburied. (Provided by the Kendall County Coroner's Office)

Crater of Bristol was born about July 1828 and died on Sept. 13, 1848, Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell said. The contractor crew inadvertently unearthed her remains while doing utility work in the 200 block of Park Street in Yorkville, the site of a former cemetery in the 1840s and 1850s.

During the initial investigation, the Kane County Coroner’s Office and the Yorkville Police Department were contacted by the Kendall County Historical Society and multiple community members, who identified the site as the former location of the Bristol Burying Grounds, a cemetery from the mid-1800s which had been converted to a residential neighborhood.

Anne Grauer, of the Loyola University Chicago Bioarcheology Lab, in late June provided the Kendall County Coroner’s Office with a comprehensive report of her anthropological analysis, which indicated that the remains belonged to a woman who was between 18 and 25 years at the time of death. No evidence of trauma or foul play was found.

Crater’s extended family also has connections to multiple notable Kendall County families, including the Beecher and Sanders families.