Lead Coffin May Contain the Wife of One of Maryland’s Founders

ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. — The second of three 17th-Century lead coffins unearthed here was found Wednesday to contain the well-preserved remains of a woman who officials speculated may have been the wife of Philip Calvert, a member of Maryland’s founding family.

“It’s in excellent condition, considering the length of time,” said Ned Brinsfield, an undertaker whose hearse will carry the body to the Smithsonian Institution next week for months of scientific analysis. “I’ve seen bodies in the ground 20 to 30 years in worse shape than this.”

There were no identifying marks on the coffin or among the remains. The woman wore ribbons on her hands, which were folded across her midsection, and researchers said they found rosemary, an herb associated with remembrance, in the coffin. There also was a ribbon on her hip, hair that appeared to be braided and bits of tissue on her face and chest.

It was the penultimate event of a week climaxing months of preparation at the site of St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s Colonial capital until 1694. A team of experts on Monday lifted the smallest of the three lead coffins from the ground and opened it. It was found to contain the bones of a baby no older than 6 months.

On Friday, the largest of the coffins will be hoisted from the crypt, moved into a MASH-style medical tent and opened. Because lead coffins were rare and expensive at the time, speculation as to its occupants has centered on Calvert, the half-brother of Leonard Calvert, who was the first governor of the colony.

Philip Calvert, the colony’s chancellor and first chief justice, married Anne Wolseley, of Staffordshire, England, in 1656. She is believed to have died in 1680, a year before his death.

The coffins were found buried in Chapel Field, site of one of the earliest Catholic churches in North America, which is now a pasture.