Andrea Miles and her father, Floyd, had been looking for the grave of their ancestor Col. Samuel Miles, a Revolutionary War officer and former Mayor of Philadelphia, for years when they heard about the remains uncovered in a 310-year-old cemetery in Old City in 2017, writes Valerie Russ for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Almost 400 people had been exhumed from the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia’s historic cemetery. Knowing that the former mayor was affiliated with that church, Miles and her father thought the mystery of his resting place would finally be solved.

“My father was into genealogy and had hoped to visit every one of his grandfathers’ graves, all the way to Col. Samuel Miles,” said Miles. “We found the graves of all the Miles grandfathers, except the colonel’s.”

They immediately offered to donate DNA samples to help identify the colonel. However, researchers have not yet located Samuel.

While Miles’ father died in 2019, the entire family is still hoping to get answers.

“My father was one of 12 siblings,” said Miles. “This is something that our whole family has been involved in. There are hundreds of cousins, and we all wonder and long for the day we know where he is.”

Read more about Samuel Miles and the mystery surrounding his grave in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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