Single Women Ormond Beach

300 years later, bones of possible slave given proper burial

ORMOND BEACH -- No one knows how she died, or what she was called before her death, but the interment of remains known as "Miss Tomoka" on Saturday brought her story to life.

More than 50 people came to the Oakridge Cemetery to hear what was known about the human skull that washed up on the shores of the Tomoka River nearly 28 years ago. Through DNA and forensic analysis, the skull -- and bones that washed up later in 2007 -- were determined to have belonged to the same woman of African descent who died in her 30s, probably about 300 years ago.

Those facts make it likely she lived as a slave. Perhaps on the plantation of Richard Oswald, the owner of a plantation stretching for thousands of acres in this area.

What was certain among those assembled Saturday was that she hadn't been given a dignified burial. And so the life of "Miss Tomoka" was celebrated in a ceremony lasting nearly two hours, with songs, stories and a saxophone playing "Amazing Grace."

The songs had tears running down the face of Eleanor Emanuel of Palm Coast.

"She could've been related to me, I don't know," said Emanuel, a worker at Bunnell Elementary School.

The mystery of Miss Tomoka's life began to unfold after a medical examiner determined the skull and bones were not related to foul play. University of Central Florida archaeologists, working with just the skull and a few fragments of her pelvis, a femur and a tibia, determined that this woman stood about 4 feet, 11 inches, with characteristics consistent with someone of African descent.

The Florida Department of State then began to determine what to do with these remains. Phillip Werndli, historic resources administrator for the department, said he was struck with a realization one day after a phone call about the next step for the bones.

"These weren't just remains -- this was a human being," he said.

Through a network of African-American museums, he was drawn to Mary Summerall, president of the Oakridge Cemetery Association. Summerall initially dubbed the remains, "Miss Oswald," after the Mount Oswald Plantation where the woman likely worked. And then Summerall made arrangements for the woman's final earthly journey, including a telling of what her life might have been like.

Mary Fears, a storyteller and historian who retired as a Volusia County Schools librarian, dressed in clothes similar to the ones Miss Tomoka likely wore -- a long-sleeved dress made of coarse cloth and a kerchief on her head. The young woman, Fears said, was likely allowed to eat a weekly ration of bacon and any vegetables that grew in the area. And her life was probably one of hard work -- sunup to sundown -- and perpetual grief.

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