Historic Vault Restored at the Congressional Cemetery

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Causten family vault, built in 1835 at the historic Congressional Cemetery on Capitol Hill, had been damaged by seeping water and was in danger of collapse when forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution began his investigation of its rotting coffins and human bones. Over the past five years, Owsley and his team identified the scattered skeletal remains and researched the lives of the 16 individuals who had been buried there, including a Civil War surgeon and a merchant who fought in the War of 1812. Owsley also found a connection between the Causten family and the politically connected Shriver family. “The vault had to be repaired. But this is really the story of a family,” Owsley told The Washington Post.