Has the Vault Burial Mystery at St. Mary's Cathedral Been Solved?

 

Could a Native American Benefactor Be Buried Alongside Father Hamilton?

By Diana Vice

There has been a decades-long mystery about who is entombed in a second burial vault in the church basement of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Lafayette, Indiana. The Reverend R. A. Hamilton, a local pioneer priest, is buried in one of the vaults, but the identity of a second person buried alongside the pioneer priest has been the subject of speculation since 1951 when the vaults were re-discovered during remodeling.

A 1956 Journal and Courier news article revealed that during a remodeling and redecorating phase of the church building, the floor of the sanctuary was torn out, and it was then that the sealed vaults, side by side, were visible. Church officials were not certain in which vault Father Hamilton was buried as the contents of the remains were not marked.

February 15, 1956, Journal & Courier News

Father Hamilton, a pioneer missionary, was responsible for the erection of St. Mary’s Cathedral in the 1860s, and when Hamilton died in 1875, he was given the honor of a church burial, which was not uncommon according to Msgr. Schweier, from the 1956 news report. “It isn’t an unusual thing for burial vaults to be included in Catholic Churches,” he said. “Bishops in many dioceses have been buried in church crypts, and many European churches have dignitaries buried beneath them.”

An inscription in the church, next to the altar of St. Joseph on the west side of the sanctuary, directly over the basement burial vault, is inscribed: “Rev. G. A. Hamilton, Born in Marion County, Ky., April 1819. Died in Lafayette April 8, 1875.”

The mystery vault story was resurrected after this writer visited with a historian related to the church. It is thought that the identity of the unknown person could be “Indian Bill” Davis, the son of a Pottawattamie Indian woman named Cakimi. Cakimi was the sister of Topinibe, principal chief of the Pottawattamie Indian Nation. Davis and Father Hamilton were good friends, and Hamilton had convinced Davis to leave his estate, which included a large tract of land near the Davis-Ferry Bridge, to the local Catholic church. It is at this location where Davis once engaged in the ferry business. The land was handed down from his father who had received it from the United States government as part of a treaty signed with the Indian nations.

After Davis died in 1866, the huge financial windfall made it possible for the church to erect the St. Mary’s Cathedral. This would give credence to the speculation that “Indian Bill” was given the honor to be buried alongside his friend, Father Hamilton, in a vault underneath the altar at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

There is a monument erected in Davis’s memory; however, it is believed that his body is not buried there, and that it likely is entombed underneath the church. No one will know for sure whose remains are buried in the basement of the church unless there is an exhumation, which is unlikely to happen. May the Rev. Hamilton and “Indian Bill” rest in peace. The wording on the monument was difficult to read, so it was recently cleaned.