
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993                   TAG: 9311140090
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STAFFORD                                LENGTH: Short

SKELETON NOT A WASHINGTON

A tiny skeleton unearthed at the plantation where George Washington grew up is not Washington's infant sister, a scientist said.

The child buried in what would have been the first president's back yard apparently was premature, Smithsonian Institution forensic expert Douglas W. Owsley said.

The child probably was born to tenant farmers who took over the Ferry Farm property from Washington's family in the early 1800s, Owsley said.

Owsley excavated the grave in July, finding bone fragments, pins from a burial shroud and nails from a tiny coffin.

A team of archaeologists found the grave in 1990, and officials wondered if it might be the burial place of Mildred Washington, George's youngest sister.

The Washington family lived at Ferry Farm from 1738 to 1774.

Records show that Mildred died there in 1740 when she was 16 months old. But the recovered remains apparently belong to a much younger child. "This was a baby, not a toddler," Owsley said.

by CNB