Mounds of mysteries
No physical evidence of this massive race of humans appears to have survived locally, but early histories of the county make numerous to references ancient cemeteries and the huge bones contained therein.
The most famous of these, judging by the number of Internet references, was found in Conneaut.
Henry Howe’s “Historical Collections of Ohio,” the research for which dates back to the mid-1840s, describes the discovery.
“There were mounds situated in the eastern part of the village of Conneaut and an extensive burying-ground near the Presbyterian church, which appear to have had no connection with the burying-places of the Indians. Among the human bones found in these mounds were some belonging to men of gigantic structure.
“Some of the skulls were of sufficient capacity to admit the head of an ordinary man, and jaw bones that might have been fitted on over the face with equal facility; the other bones were proportionately large.
“The burying-ground referred to contained about four acres, and with the exception of a slight angle in conformity with the natural contour of the ground, was in the form of an oblong square. It appeared to have (been) accurately surveyed into lots running from north to south, and exhibited all the order and propriety of arrangement deemed necessary to constitute Christian burial.
“On the first examination of the ground by the settlers they found it covered with the ordinary forest trees, with an opening near the centre containing a single butternut. The graves were distinguished by slight depressions disposed in straight rows, and were estimated to number from two to three thousand.
“On examination in 1800 they were found to contain human bones, invariably blackened by time, which on exposure to the air soon crumbled to dust. Traces of ancient cultivation observed by the first settlers on the lands of the vicinity, although covered with forest, exhibited signs of having once been thrown up into squares and terraces, and laid out in gardens.”
Howe makes note of several other mysteries that emerged as the settlers disturbed the land. In the spring of 1815, a mound on Harbor Street was cut through for the purpose of building a road. A heavy rain washed out a jaw bone and artificial tooth, discovered by a Mr. Walker. He took the items to P. R. Spencer, “secretary of the Historical Society, who fitted the tooth in a cavity from which it had evidently fallen. The tooth was metallic, probably silver, but little was then thought of the circumstance.”
A note of caution is necessary regarding the timeline of this discovery. The Ashtabula County Historical Society was not formed until July 17, 1838. However, Platt R. Spencer was indeed recording secretary of the new society.
Further evidence of an advanced civilization having contact with this land emerged from the forest about 30 rods (495 feet) southeast of Fort Hill (see the Jan. 30 Sunday Currents). In 1829, Silas A. Davis chopped down an ancient tree on this land and butted it off for a saw log.
Howe notes: “Some marks were found upon it near the heart of the tree. The Hon. Nehemiah King, with a magnifying glass, counted 350 annular rings in that part of the stump, outside of these marks. Deducting 350 from 1829, leaves 1479, which must have been the year when these cuts were made. This was thirteen years before the discovery of America by Columbus. It perhaps was done by the race of the mounds, with an ax of copper, as that people had the art of hardening that metal so as to cut like steel.”
According to Howe, this chip was once in the county historical society’s possession, but it appears to have been lost to time, negligence or ignorance of its significance. The existence of the artifact is also confirmed by a “published pamphlet” (most likely “Early History of Cleveland, Ohio) in which Col. C. Whittlesey related several other instances of these marks being found in timber growing in Canfield, Newburg, Willoughby and Berlin.
A bit of Eden gone astray
Conneaut was not alone in possessing sites that provided compelling evidence of ancient residents predating the Woodland Indians.
The Williams Brothers History of Ashtabula County, published in 1878, makes reference to similar discoveries as the land around Ashtabula Village was developed. This section of history was written by the Rev. S.D. Peet, and one would hope his commitment to the Ninth Commandment would restrain any temptation to embellish the account.
Peet mentions a “beautiful and fertile” spot that was situated at the rear of the “present site of the Roman Catholic church.” The parcel contained seven or eight acres, and, given Peet’s description of the plot in relationship to the Edgewood Cemetery, the parcel would have been in the area of the north end of Main Avenue.
Matthew Hubbard, an early settler, first laid eyes on this little bit of Eden gone astray in 1804 and called it “the most beautiful and lovely spot I ever beheld.” Hubbard is said to have spent many hours at the spot, which was covered by buildings by the time Peet wrote his narrative in the 1870s.
Of the unspoiled woodland, Peet wrote, “....... it was discovered that the growth on this spot was very new, and the forests different from that on the surrounding region. The plat of ground was situated on the brow of the steep precipice, which forms the rocky side of the deep gorge through which the Ashtabula River flows, and was protected on that side by the bluff.”
Peet states that the soil was “rich and mellow,” and in the process of tillage, many relics were unearthed, including “stone door-steps, worn smooth by long use.”
Turning his attention to land across the river, “in the direction of the east village where now the white stones of the cemetery may be seen, was another ancient place.”
Peet states that nearly 1,000 hollows or sinks were found in this ancient cemetery prior to being claimed for the burial of the European settlers.
“This land at one time belonged to a Mr. Peleg Sweet, who was a man of large size and full features; and it is narrated that at one time he, in digging, came upon a skull and jaw which were of such size that the skull would cover his head and the jaw could be easily slipped over his face, as though the head of a giant were enveloping his. Other burial-grounds of an ancient people existed in the vicinity -- one on the very bank of the lake, near the mouth of the river. On the west bank of the stream, a short distance from the lake, on the summit of Plum point, has been discovered also a massive mound or burial-heap 35 feet in diameter and seven feet in height. At the time of its discovery it was covered with massive trees of very ancient growth.”
“Still another burying-place existed farther up the stream in a spot nearly opposite the present site of Chestnut cemetery, and between the gorges formed by Factory brook and Hubbards run. Here also the graves were discovered by the hollows or sinks in the ground.”
Brian Redmond, curator of archeology with the Museum of Natural History, said the museum has none of these large bones in its collection, and he doubts that pioneers came across anything out of the ordinary. He suggests that the legends, which are found throughout pioneer literature, developed because the had migrated away from each other due to the forces of nature, and when unearthed, would have measured 7 feet or more from top to bottom.
Ashtabula’s lost tablet
Perhaps the most tantalizing story in Peet’s narrative is that of an inscribed stone discovered by the son of Peleg Sweet circa 1808. The stone was found near the “burying-place” upon the east side of the Ashtabula creek, at the edge of the bluff.”
“It consisted of a stone plate or slab on which were inscribed certain letters,” Peet wrote. “A small tree had been turned up by the roots, near the banks, and this remarkable stone was found sticking into the bank near the top, its end inclining somewhat downwards towards the creek. ... It was, when found, lying with its smooth face downwards, the other side being flat but unpolished. On turning it over it was discovered that its surface was covered with marks of inscribed letters.”
The oblong stone, measuring 22 inches long, 14 wide and 3 thick had letters “cut skillfully (on a bevel)” several lines of Roman capital letters -- “E.P.,” “O.S.” and “121.”
Peet’s story offers no explanation for this mystery, other than to attribute it to a white man. The stone, he writes, was “left to perish, having laid on the bank until it was buried or destroyed, and all further trace of its history has gone.”
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