Mary Wolfe

Death Certificate

• Name: Mary Wolfe Birth Date: 1769 Birth Place: Near Lewistown, Del
• Death Date: 3 Mar 1854 Death Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Age at Death: 84
• Burial Date: 11 Mar 1854 Burial Place: Machpelah Burial Ground
• Gender: Female Race: White
• Marital status: Married Spouse: William Wolfe
• Father: John Futcher Mother: Sarah Futcher
• FHL Film Number: 1927776

In 2014, Archaeologist uncovered the Wolfe family cemetery in the Hawkseye community outside Lewes. The 18th and 19th century graves were unmarked in a wooded area near the Junction and Breakwater Trail. Archaeologist Edward Otter and his team uncovered 11 graves containing 10 skeletal remains.

The main key to identifying the Wolfe family was a lead coffin, which likely belonged to Mary Futcher Wolfe when her body was transported from Philadelphia to Lewes. Otter discovered that the entire Philadelphia cemetery where Mary Wolfe was thought to be buried had been exhumed in the 1890s, and thousands of bodies were removed. Otter than discovered a receipt in the Wolfe records for purchase of a coffin covered in lead, lined with flannel and padded. It further described the coffin as having molding on top and bottom with an engraved breast plate. Otter and his team found evidence of all those features at the Hawkseye site. If Otter needed any more confirmation, he found it two pages later: a permit from the Bureau of Health for the removal of Mary Wolfe and conveyance to a steamboat.

All salvaged remains were sent to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Source https://www.capegazette.com/node/77396 Source: https://www.capegazette.com/node/94050 Articles by Nick Roth