Skeletal Remains ID'd As Mid-1800s Woman: Kendall Coroner

YORKVILLE, IL — The skeletal remains found in May on Park Street in Yorkville have been identified, the Kendall County Coroner's Office said Monday night.

Contractors unearthed the human remains while fixing existing water pipes May 15 in the 200 block of Park Street, Patch reported. Crews were digging a trench to complete the repairs when they hit the bones.

The coroner's office and Yorkville Police Department, with the help of the Kendall County Historical Society, identified the site as the former location of the Bristol Burying Grounds, a cemetery from the mid-1800s that has since been converted to a residential area.

Multiple government agencies and community organizations helped the coroner's office process the site to uncover well over 100 individual bones belonging to the woman. They were then sent to Loyola University Chicago for analysis.

In late June 2024, Dr. Anne Grauer of the Loyola University Chicago Bioarcheology Lab provided the coroner's office with a report of her anthropological analysis that found that the skeleton belonged to a woman between 18 and 25 years old at the time of death. There was no evidence of trauma or foul play, officials said.

Staff could not use traditional means, including DNA or dental records, to identify the remains due to their age and condition, so they instead used historical information and knowledge of the area.

RELATED: Human Remains Found While Contractors Repaired Pipes: Yorkville PD

The coroner's office identified the woman as Lucy M. Crater, of historic Bristol, daughter of Abraham and Martha Crater. She was born around July 1828 and died on Sept. 13, 1848, the coroner's office said.

Officials said the findings were consistent with the expected historical period of the "Bristol Burying Grounds."

Investigators identified 193 of the woman's family, including living indirect descendants in multiple states. She also had connections to several notable Kendall County families, including the Beecher and Sanders families, officials said.

With the consent of Crater's living indirect descendants, Coroner Jacquie Purcell determined her remains will be moved to Elmwood Cemetery in Yorkville in keeping with the tradition of reinterment of many of the original Kendall County residents from the Bristol Burying Grounds.