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DNA finally identifies child killed in Titanic sinking
Associated Press ^

Posted on 11/06/2002 11:22:19 AM PST by Asmodeus

TORONTO -- Nearly a century ago, Canadian sailors buried an unidentified infant who died on the Titanic and, touched by the tragedy, called him the Unknown Child -- a symbol of the children lost in the luxury liner sinking.

Now at last, the child is known. On Tuesday, Magda Schleifer, a retired Finnish bank clerk, visited the grave, which DNA tests have now established holds the remains of one of her relatives.

"First I thought this could not be true,'' Schleifer, 68, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Schleifer had long known that her grandmother's sister, Maria, had died with her five children -- including her 13-month-old son, Eino Panula -- when the Titanic went down in 1912.

A Finnish survivor had told Schleifer's grandmother that Maria was offered a seat in one of the Titanic's lifeboats. "But she refused to leave the boat only with Eino, while her four other children were still in another part of the boat," Schleifer said.

Now, after two years of study, researchers in Canada have filled in the story, matching DNA remains taken from the grave to Schleifer.

The tests, completed last month, showed the Unknown Child was Eino, said Dr. Ryan Parr of Lakehead University in Ontario and historian Alan Ruffman of the Geomarine Associates LTD in Halifax.

Of the 150 victims of the Titanic buried in three graveyards in Halifax, 45 remain unidentified. But grave number four has long stand out as a symbol of the tragedy's youngest victims, ever since Canadian sailors erected a stone memorial on it reading, "Erected to The Memory of An Unknown Child."

When scientists exhumed the remains from the grave last year, they found only a wrist bone weighing less than a quarter ounce and three teeth. Parr said a copper medallion inscribed with "Our Babe" placed in the coffin by the sailors may have helped preserve the bone fragment from oxidation.

"The romantic explanation is that the sailors felt so much for that little boy, that they put the medallion to make sure he was preserved long enough for us to find him and identify him," Parr said.

While police generally work with recent DNA samples, analyzing samples almost 100 years old is more difficult.

The Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, on the north shore of Lake Superior, is among the few facilities in the world capable of extracting degraded DNA from old samples, said Jack Ballantyne, a DNA expert from the National Center for Forensic Science in Orlando, Fla.

"Based on my knowledge, it sounds pretty reasonable they have come with accurate results," Ballantyne said.

The identification process focused on mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is inherited from the mother. A famous case of ancient mtDNA testing involved Russia's last czar, Nicholas II and his wife, who were killed in 1918. Their remains were exhumed in 1991 and identified a few years later by tests in Britain and the United States.

Parr said it took two years of research to find the name of the Unknown Child.

"When I started it was the scientific side of the research I was more interested in," he said in a telephone interview. "I thought that after 90 years people would say, 'Who cares?"'

Once the testing at Lakehead University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem provided similar findings, Ruffman began searching for living relatives.

Dental tests on the remains established that they were those of an infant, narrowing them down to three of the six unidentified child victims from the Titanic sinking -- a 5-month-old Swede, a 7-month-old English child or a 13-month-old Finn.

Helped with funds from U.S. public broadcasters including Thirteen/WNET in New York, which is featuring the find in its "Secrets of the Dead" series, Ruffman sought out people for DNA testing.

While the research still must be reviewed by scientific experts and journals, Parr and Ruffman said they believe they have solved the mystery.

Schleifer said their findings have brought closure to the story of Maria and Eino. Asked if she would like to have Eino's coffin brought to Finland, she said, "Definitely not."

"He belongs to the people of Halifax who took care of him for 90 years," she said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: archaeology; dna; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; titanic
The Titanic

1 posted on 11/06/2002 11:22:20 AM PST by Asmodeus
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To: Vic3O3
Ping!
2 posted on 11/06/2002 11:34:16 AM PST by dd5339
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To: Asmodeus
This story is almost overwhelming. This is truly humanity at its finest!!
3 posted on 11/06/2002 11:40:51 AM PST by cubreporter
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To: Guenevere; Radix
Ping! Truly amazing....
4 posted on 11/06/2002 11:50:33 AM PST by Molly Pitcher
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To: Asmodeus
What a beautiful story, especially the last line, where his grand-niece when asked if he should be brought back to Finland, says he should stay in Halifax, because "They took care of him for 90 years." There is more love and respect and honor in this simple story than there was in all 20,000 of the rompin' stompin' "mourners" for Paul Wellstone in Minnesota, last week.

Congressman Billybob

On American Politics

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

5 posted on 11/06/2002 11:55:34 AM PST by Congressman Billybob
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To: Asmodeus
Rest in peace, little baby...
6 posted on 11/06/2002 12:16:42 PM PST by pabianice
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To: Congressman Billybob
You could not have said it any better. Thanks.
7 posted on 11/06/2002 12:19:15 PM PST by UScbass
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To: Asmodeus
A Finnish survivor had told Schleifer's grandmother that Maria was offered a seat in one of the Titanic's lifeboats. "But she refused to leave the boat only with Eino, while her four other children were still in another part of the boat," Schleifer said.

It's hard sometimes to think of "Titanic" as anything but movie FX, then you get stopped in your tracks by something like this.

Thanks for the post.

8 posted on 11/06/2002 12:25:58 PM PST by workerbee
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To: Asmodeus
This is a very cool story, and I like it as a history enthusiast.

At the same time, I can't help wondering how many rape-kits sit with unanalyzed DNA
samples...while some long-dead child draws this sort of effort.

OK, I'll slip out of curmudgeon mode and admit...maybe this sort of story is
meritorious as it raises the consciousness of the general public about DNA foresnics to
solve all sorts of mysteries, be they historical or criminal.
9 posted on 11/06/2002 12:34:15 PM PST by VOA
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To: VOA
Just wait until DNA evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the "Beltway Snipers" also are responsible for the sinking of the Titanic......
10 posted on 11/06/2002 12:37:25 PM PST by tracer
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To: Congressman Billybob
Beautiful. You know, it's good to read about class act people.
11 posted on 11/06/2002 12:39:53 PM PST by xJones
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To: Congressman Billybob
We took a trip to Halifax a few years ago. The people there are among the friendliest I have ever met. I highly recommend it.
12 posted on 11/06/2002 4:17:53 PM PST by Ranger
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To: blam
For "Thoroughly Modern Miscellany", but not a ping.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

13 posted on 05/01/2005 9:52:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FR profiled updated Monday, April 11, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
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