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Sailor's Identity Found After 212 Years
9 Oct
Summary
- A War of 1812 sailor's unmarked grave was identified.
- Modern genealogy and archival research cracked the cold case.
- A descendant attended a ceremony honoring the identified sailor.
A sailor, killed by American forces during the War of 1812 and buried in an unmarked grave in Mystic, Connecticut, has been identified after 212 years. Jon Fuller, intrigued by the story, initiated efforts to mark the grave, initially engraving it simply as "Unknown H.M.S. Terror August 13, 1814."
Grace Cleere, a local history enthusiast, was drawn to the austerely marked grave. Her research, aided by UK-based genealogist Roger Hutchins, led to British Admiralty records. These archives revealed the sailor as William Adamson, a Scotsman who died on August 13, 1814.
Further genealogical research connected Adamson to his sixth-generation descendant, Claudia Chagnon, residing in Lynchburg, Virginia. Chagnon joined Fuller, Cleere, and historians in Mystic for a ceremony where Adamson's grave was finally marked with his name, bringing closure to a centuries-old mystery.
