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Coffin plate · primary-source record

Elma Griffin

circa 9 December 1829 (computed from age at death) – 15 Apr 1849

From a newspaper account quoting the original coffin plate

Editorially verified

At-a-glance facts

Record type

Coffin plate

Date of death

15 Apr 1849

Date of birth

circa 9 December 1829 (computed from age at death)

Age at death

19 years 4 months 6 days

The coffin plate

Plate, photographedPage 1 of 4

Inscription transcription

Elma Griffin
died Apr 15, 1849
age 19 years 4 mos 6 days
Transcription from the Ancestors at Rest archive.

About this record

This is a newspaper article, not a photograph of the coffin plate itself. The article recounts a premature-burial scare: Elma Griffin was prepared for burial and sealed in a coffin with the plate already engraved, then revived when her fiance Robert (later her husband, Mr. Purroy) discovered she was still alive. Decades later, Almeda, Mrs. Purroy of Brooklyn, NY, is shown reminiscing about her niece's coffin plate while visiting friends in Alameda — Elma m. Robert Purroy.

Record submitted by

Original contributor unknown — Was it you? Let us know

Possible matches in the 1850 US Federal Census

⚠ Candidate matches — unverified. Researcher to confirm.

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  • 1850 US Federal Census

    Elma Griffin Oswegatchie, Saint Lawrence, NY abt 1836 New York

    Oswegatchie, Saint Lawrence, New York, USA · abt 1836, New York

    Search this candidate match on Ancestry →

    Unverified — opens a search, not a confirmation.

Source & citation

Source type
Original photograph
Provenance
From the Ancestors at Rest archive — founded 2004 by Brian and substantially built out across two decades by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy.
Transcribed by
Ancestors at Rest archive — original contributor not recorded.
Last verified
2026-05-12
Permalink
/records/coffin-plates/griffin-elma-1849/
Image vs transcription
Both — the coffin plate's inscription is reproduced within the newspaper article photographed here; no separate photograph of the plate itself

Citation: "Rescued from Premature Death," Dallas Morning News, September 3, 1887 (originally published in the San Francisco Examiner) — quoting the silver coffin plate of Elma Griffin (15 Apr 1849), preserved in the Ancestors at Rest archive (https://ancestorsatrest.com/records/coffin-plates/griffin-elma-1849/ : accessed [your access date]).

The original contributor of this record is not preserved in the archive. If you transcribed this plate, please get in touch so credit can be restored.

More from the archive

Matched automatically from the archive’s name and place indexes — research leads, not confirmed relations.

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