04/16/2007

By LINDA MCNATT  / Associated Press

Joseph Bridger would have recognized the mellow music and sung the venerable hymns.

The words of the Rev. Gary Barker, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, would have been familiar as well. And Bridger, though he died three centuries ago, might have felt kinship to the more than 200 people from 13 states who attended his memorial service Sunday at Historic St. Luke's Church, especially if they had a prominent brow and a strong, broad nose.

"This is the culmination of exhumation and examination," Barker told the congregation of family members that packed the church. "It was to have marked the re-interment."

Bridger's bones, however, are at the Smithsonian Institution for examination.

No matter.

"Joseph Bridger is with us today — in spirit," Barker said.

For perhaps the third time in 321 years, Bridger friends and relations paid homage to an early colonist, a soldier, a planter, a church father and, in this case, grandfather to them all.

Col. Joseph Bridger died April 15, 1686 — Sunday's service marked the anniversary of his death — and was first buried in what is now a field. A few of his bones were taken up in 1894 and interred in St. Luke's, reputed to be America's oldest English church. Some believe Bridger oversaw its construction.

For years, since they were removed from the grounds of his plantation and placed beneath the floor near the altar, Bridger's bones rested in relative peace.

Last January, though, the man who is known by his descendants as a general — because of his prominence in both the county militia and Colonial forces — was moved again.

Researchers at the Smithsonian in Washington wanted to know more about one of the richest men in the colony. He had a 21-room mansion with slate floors and owned thousands of acres in Virginia and Maryland, said William P. Carrell II, a descendant and vice president of the family group.

Douglas Owsley, a forensic anthropologist, led the team.

"Your General Bridger is a key individual," Owsley said after the memorial service. "We've been taking a look to see if he can tell us something."

The first reburial was undertaken in a rather rough way, Owsley said. Those in charge took only enough bones from Bridger's original burial site to fill the tiny chamber allotted to him — and they may have left some of their lunches behind.

"One of the first things handed out to me in January was the left forearm of a rabbit," Owsley said. There also were a chicken bone and bones from a sheep that was less than a year old.

Still, there was enough of Bridger's cranium to know that he had a prominent forehead, enough facial bones to tell that his nose was broad.

"I can tell from the bones he was a large man, and he was very strong," Owsley said.

At 55, Bridger had barely any arthritis. Not enough tests have yet been conducted to be able to speculate on how he died, Owsley said.

Now, with permission of the landowner, Owsley twice has been into the fields where Bridger was first buried to search for the original grave.

"I've done a lot of police searches," he said. "They're always hard. But now, I'm looking back for 321 years."

Members of the family association want to see what their ancestor looked like. With enough bones, facial reconstruction would be possible.

Still, the fact that her 10th great-grandfather was with them in spirit on Sunday was enough for Jean Tomes, family president.

"If I ever see my grandfather face to face, I'll tell him that this has been one of the happiest days of my life, seeing all of his grandchildren gathered together," said Tomes, of Rocky Mount, N.C.

The family has traced the Bridger clan — which has adopted two variations of the name, Bridgers and Bridges — back to 1200 in England, to John Bruyges, French for "bridge tender" or "bridge keeper," said John Henry Bridger.

Army National Guard Maj. Randall Bridger, an usher at the service, has known about his rich heritage for about 10 years.

"There is a direct blood line," he said. "I'm an eighth or ninth grandson. Today has been really enlightening, very humbling."

The story of Bridger's bones will be a part of an exhibit in Washington in November 2008 — "Written in Bones, Life and Death in the Colonial Chesapeake."

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The Virginian-Pilot is published in Norfolk.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://www.pilotonline.com