Hopes now seem forlorn that the remains of Caesar Augustus Rodney will join those of his family in Delaware. As work is about to start on finding and restoring the burial ground of the distinguished Delaware family, word came from the U. S. Embassy and cemetery officials in Argentina that his remains are probably in a common grave. The work in Delaware is to include historical research and documentation and physical exploration of the area east of Dover where Byfield, the Rodney family home, once stood. If the burial vaults can't be easily located, researchers might use ground-penetrating radar, used by police to find bodies and cash underground.
Archeologists also use it to find American Indian sites and graves of historic figures.
The hope is that after the graveyard is found, a proper historic monument can be established there. The best known Rodney is Caesar, but we may never really know whether he is buried there. We can be almost positive, though, that his nephew, Caesar Augustus, is not. It had been hoped to return Augustus' remains from Buenos Aires, where he died of apoplexy in 1824 at the age of 52, about six months after he was named the first United States ambassador to Argentina. Augustus' career included service as a congressman and senator from Delaware.