Sealing a family member in a glass coffin: It’s a long-discussed Oswego legend from years past, and now the facts are finally being revealed. A first-time author is diving into the story of a grieving family and their unconventional ways of memorializing their daughter.

It's been 125 years since Oswego’s Tonkin family lost their beloved daughter. And throughout the generations, the legend of this girl has been distorted. But one woman has dug deep into history and written a book about what really happened.

At the turn of the century, Virginia Tonkin was a month away from turning 11 when a case of appendicitis ended her life. The story that endured for decades after was the Tonkin family displaying her glass coffin in their home for 15 months — a home that’s still standing in Oswego.

“No, I didn't go to college, and I never took any writing classes. And one day, I just truly felt compelled,” said author Lee Ellen Hickey.

The Tonkin family got Hickey’s attention, and with a $150 laptop, she started writing.

“It just flowed from me. It never felt like I had writer's block or anything, and that all of that was very surprising to me. Never aspiring to be a writer or anything,” said Hickey.

Three months later, the first draft of "Girl in the Glass Coffin: The Tonkin Affairs" was complete. It's a book Hickey says is 95% fact.

“And I feel like the basis of the book is grief somewhat, and how different people handle loss and grief. Obviously, Mrs. Tonkin’s way of handling it was quite unconventional at that time,” said Hickey.

The Tonkin family mausoleum is in Riverside Cemetery, where Virginia Tonkin and her parents are interred.

“Virginia was so afraid of the dark that they wanted to be sure that there was light that could come in. So they had the interior door that can open and let light in,” said Hickey of the mausoleum’s design. “[A] piece of beveled glass above her head ... was intended to bring in the morning sun and cast refracted rainbows on the exact wall of her crypt.”

For a long time, the stained-glass window was broken. It was restored with an illustration of a generic angel face. The Tonkin family’s only surviving great-grandchild, Kathy, found the book online and reached out to Hickey. Kathy found an original photo of the mausoleum’s stained-glass window.

“It wasn't until her photographic evidence and my husband's research kind of came together … [to] see that it was actually Virginia's face in the window originally,” said Hickey.

“I exonerate Mrs. Tonkin from looking just like a crazy woman," Hickey continued. "I think I give her some humanity, and I bring empathy to her story, rather than just her being some crazy lady that would prop her daughter up in the window so she could supposedly see her friends going to and from school. I don't think that really happened."

The Tonkin family's legacy will live on at the mausoleum, and maybe soon in a restored stained-glass window that has an accurate depiction of Virginia's face. Hickey said some of the money made from the book will be going toward restoring Virginia’s face to the mausoleum window.