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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Mountain Meadows massacre descendant group wants additional tests on a skull with purported ties to the 1857 southern Utah attack, despite scientific findings that show a connection is unlikely.
Tests by a Boise State University scientist concluded the skull is that of a young Asian male, Idaho state archaeologist Ken Reid said.
"We're not convinced," said Patty Norris, president of Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants, one of three descendant organizations. "It has been examined at this point by two different individuals and there are two different opinions. As direct-line family members, we just want to be absolutely certain."
An earlier finding by a different scientist was inconclusive, but said some cranial features and measurements suggested possible Native American ancestry.
"We are not ready to give up if there's any possibility that this individual came from the Mountain Meadows massacre," said Norris, of Omaha, Ark.
But Norris' decision to get further testing on the skull, and the fact that she has since acquired it from its previous owner -- has sparked a family feud.
Leaders of the other two descendant groups, the Mountain Meadows Association and the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation, said they don't oppose additional testing, but they believed that the three groups agreed to make decisions jointly if tests showed a possible connection to the massacre.
They said there had been no discussion about acquiring the skull and expressed frustration that Norris seems to have operated in secret to obtain it.
"We are supposed to be doing things in equal partnership," said Mountain Meadows Association President Terry Fancher, of Braintree, Mass.
Jeff Webb, of Sugar City, Idaho, found the skull in a box at a Utah pawn shop in 1982. A note in the box said the skull was a female victim of the massacre. In February Webb turned the skull over to Reid for testing after contacting historians at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Sept. 11, 1857, massacre in the meadow northwest of St. George was committed by southern Utah church leaders and militia members disguised as a local Indian tribe. After a five-day siege, the members of the California-bound Baker-Fancher wagon train, filled with travelers from Arkansas, forged a truce and laid down their guns, only to be slaughtered as they were led out of the meadows on foot.
Seventeen children from seven families survived the attack.
Webb granted permission for Norris to acquire the skull in a handwritten note dated May 29 -- the first day of a two-day meeting between the three groups and officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Scott Fancher, an attorney in Harrison, Ark., for the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation, wrote to Idaho officials in April, objecting to any disposition of the skull not agreed to by all three organizations.
"It does set a precedent of sorts that they have some right to the remains," said Fancher. "The real story is how do we protect the rights of all legitimate stakeholders in dealing with remains in the future."
Each of the descendant organizations varies in size and membership characteristics, but all have members who are direct descendants and indirect relatives.
"We are all descendants, there is no one group that is superior," said foundation President Phil Bolinger, of Hindsville, Ark., who is related to 30 massacre victims. "All three groups have earned the right to have an equal say."
Norris insists she was not trying to be sneaky and welcomes participation from others in trying to further pinpoint the skull's origins.
She said her organization will seek tests to determine the age of the skull and may compare DNA samples from massacre descendants with DNA from the skull.
"This issue of dealing with actual remains and grave sites I just feel should be left to direct-line descendants. But they don't all have to be in the MMMD," said Norris. "The best way we can honor those that died out there is if we all work together."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
