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 Hilaria Sanchez Reed Garcia, son John Joseph Reed, c. 1863 |
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This article was written by Beth Koelker and published in the May 18th issue of the Mill Valley Herald. It is reprinted below with permission of the Herald Editor. The photographs were provided courtesy of Max Kisman. Just what happens when a coffin is discovered under your house? A lot. Being a contractor in Mill Valley is no easy task to begin with. However, when Maverick Construction was given the task of restoring the foundation of the house at 10-12 Manor Terrace, there was to be more to the job than met the eye. The new owners of the house, the Connolly family, knew their new home was the oldest documented house in Mill Valley, having been built by Carmelita Natividad Reed Garcia and her second husband, Hugh Aloysius Boyle, in 1885, but there were a few things they didn't know. One day contractor Pete McKinsey was down in the dark and dustiness of the 18 inches of crawl space beneath the house as he tried to determine just what a wooden-plank box was doing stuck under a pier. All of a sudden the top gave way to reveal a skeleton. When asked his reaction to this discovery, McKinsey replied with a laugh,"You can't print what I said."  When asked what he did, he answered, "I never moved faster in my life. I knew it was something bad. I just wanted out of there."What did he do next? He called 911. That brought the police, who taped off the area as a crime scene. To determine if there was foul play involved, the Marin County coroner was called in. The head coroner in Marin County is Ken Holmes. He replaced the police tape with coroner tape. Then the real digging began. Dean Loutas, a detective with the Mill Valley Police Department, said that the roughly cut redwood coffin was in good condition. Redwood is insect resistant and the coffin had been covered by the house. Loutas said it was quite obvious that this seemed to be the "intended burial" rather than a homicide or dumped body. In investigating a coffin with skeletal remains, Loutas said that police are mindful that all people "were once standing on this earth and respect for them - and their ancestors - is always of utmost importance." Pamela Carter was assigned as the investigative coroner and got to work on determining the historical significance of the discovery. Opportunities like this are rare. A forensic archaeologist from UC Berkeley became involved. The bones would have to be moved to UC Berkeley for testing. The skeleton was wearing a woolen suit with fine silk lining. He held a small piece of paper in his hand. He died some time in his 30s to early 40s. His short stature and full set of teeth at first suggested he was of a younger age. Retaining a full set of teeth was a rare for a person of that age back then. Holmes said that due to the rugged 19th century way of life, just living to fifty was "getting up in age" and 60 or 70 was "an accomplishment." Just how deeply buried was the coffin? Holmes said it was normal back in those days to bury a coffin just a couple of feet below the surface. This coffin was buried in quite rocky soil as well. The construction company was digging just 8 to 12 inches below the surface when it discovered the coffin. The house seems to have been built unknowingly on top of the coffin. A pier has been placed directly on the coffin lid. Back in the late 1800s the mansion was built on the high point of a grassy knoll for all to see as they came down the dirt road that would become Blithedale Avenue. The house sat alone for years on acres of open grassland with large herds of cows grazing in the area Park School now stands. Some of these pastures might have been leased to other families. Possibly they interred relatives on the site, but there was scant record-keeping back then and few records have survived. A much more disintegrated second coffin containing a man of 18 to 22 was unearthed within a week of the first find. This skeleton was complete, but only a few buttons and some shreds of cloth remained, suggesting the second coffin was older than the first one found. Then a third collection of remains was discovered, consisting of just bone fragments - not a skull or even a long bone. These remains were in an even more advanced state of decay and had been "significantly disturbed." The coffins were some 30 feet apart and not aligned in any obvious pattern. Holmes thinks there may be more. Rory Walsh, Mill Valley's City Planner, said that such discoveries fall under the jurisdiction of the Marin County coroner and not the city. The Safe Environmental Quality Act is a strict set of state laws that dictate the protocol and procedures for such finds. In the case of Native American relics such as "shells and other discarded items," SEQA designates them as "cultural resources" and protects them aggressively."  She added that most of Mill Valley's Sycamore area abounds with items discarded by the Miwok Indians. "We like living here - so did they." Teardowns and significant remodels needing new foundations are permitted by the city with the condition that a work stoppage will be issued upon discovery of "cultural resources."When will the mystery end? The coroner's department is looking into the Reed family tree. John Thomas Reed, a native of Dublin, Ireland, received a Mexican land grant of 7,845 acres called Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio upon his marriage to his wife Hilaria Sanchez. Reed was the founder of the sawmill that gave Mill Valley its name. Hilaria Sanchez married Bernardino Garcia after Reed's death in 1843. Upon her death, her daughter by Garcia, Carmelita Natividad Reed Garcia, inherited the 325 acres that the Manor Terrace house stands on. If a descendant could be located, DNA testing might solve the mystery and the bones could finally be put to rest. Holmes said, the remains "can be interred back where they came from - under the house." Or the homeowner could make provisions to move them elsewhere. Sean Connolly said he plans to return the remains to where they were found. He recalled the day he heard the news of the discovery of the coffin. "I was sitting at my desk when I received a call from my contractor who asked me, "Are you sitting down?" Connolly was sitting down. The contractor continued, "We found a body in a coffin under your house." Connolly replied, "Is that all?" Any who have remodeled a house or heard horror stories of upset neighbors during construction will understand his reaction. The original shallow foundation of stone and cement had given the new owners some grave concerns and needed to be replaced. |
