English churches OK DNA testing on kin of Jamestown founder By SUE LINDSEY Associated Press Writer Published February 24, 2005, 3:27 PM EST NORFOLK -- Two churches in England will allow Virginia to take DNA samples from the remains of relatives of a founder of Jamestown to determine whether a skeleton found at the colony's site is his, Virginia preservation officials said Thursday. Permission for the sampling was given after archaeologists found the graves believed to contain the sister and niece of Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, said Paula Neely, a spokeswoman for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Gosnold died after an illness in August 1607 at age 36. "We can't just go into a church and start looking around," she said. To find the graves, archaeologists conducted radar surveys in two churches in Suffolk, England, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, James Halsall, a spokesman for the Church of England's Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said in a statement. The surveys indicated the graves are where scientists believed they would be, Neely said. If final legal permission is granted, DNA will be extracted this spring. The final step is just a formality, Neely said. "For all practical purposes, we have permission to proceed." The grave of Gosnold's sister, Elizabeth Gosnold Tilney, appears to be under the choir pews at Shelley All Saints Church, the diocesan spokesman said. Katherine Blackerby, Gosnold's niece, is believed to be in a vault under a Blackerby memorial tablet in the floor of St. Peter and St. Mary church in Stowmarket. "Both are very exciting results," Halsall said. Archaeologists must conduct further tests to determine whether there are remains in the graves. In the case of Tilney, scientists will have to make sure her remains are in an individual grave, William Kelso, APVA director of archaeology, said in a telephone interview. Kelso, who directed the 2003 dig in which the skeleton believed to be Gosnold's was found outside the site of the Jamestown fort, said the discovery of graves that likely belong to the captain's relatives strengthens the possibility of a historical link. "It really points out how closely our history is tied in with the history of England," he said. The remains of Gosnold's sister and niece must be found because scientists working with skeletal remains can only trace DNA through maternal relatives, Kelso said. Both historical documents and physical evidence have led scientists to the strong belief that the skeleton found at Jamestown belongs to Gosnold, Neely said. Among the items found was a decorative staff used by captains of the era that lay on the coffin's lid. Gosnold in 1602 led an expedition to New England, where he discovered and named Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. In 1605, he began planning the Jamestown Colony with Capt. John Smith.