W. P. A. Cemetery Survey - Old Indian Burial Ground on the Maumee River

In this series, some of the general surveys of Defiance County cemeteries will be shared, transcribed as written on the original W.P.A. reports, with a few punctuation and/or spelling changes for readability.  The surveys were probably done around 1936.

For more up to date information on the cemeteries, check out this chart on our website:
 http://defiancecountygenealogy.org/cemeteries.html)

Old Indian Burial Ground on the Maumee River

1. Name: The Old Indian Burial Ground on the Maumee River

2. Location:

Located in Noble Township, Section 19, four miles west of the City of Defiance on the high bank of the north side of the Maumee River.  Reached from the Court House at Defiance by taking route #66 north across the Maumee River bridge to the second street over the river, turning left or to the west on this street called West High Street and following this angling road called the Jericho Road for three and one half miles to a spot where the river comes close to the road.  On this high 60 foot bluff is the location of an old Indian lookout and ancient Indian burial ground.

3. Name of caretaker:

There is no caretaker.  The grounds are not kept up.  It is private property, but is quite frequently used as camping grounds.  There is nothing here to discern it as a Graveyard.  The location only, recorded by historians, tell us it was a burial ground.  There is no marker or is it kept up by the Defiance County Park Board.

4. General description:

A high, 60 foot bluff, overlooking a bend in the Maumee River.  The river on the south, a ravine on the west, the road on the north, and a deep gorge on the east, mark the spot.  This round covers about ten acres, and from this point, one can see up and down both bends of the river.  This land is not cultivated and on all sides are large trees, mostly hickory, and wild peach.  

The land here for and comprising these ten acres is flat and a loose yellow clay soil.  Many pieces of broken flint can still be found here.  I picked up several the day I visited this spot.  Campers have also been using the place recently.  It is not fenced in and runs directly along the road.  It is known only as a graveyard by what historians tell us, especially Dr. C. E. Slocum in his History of the Maumee River Basin in 1905.   

5. First Burial:

Unknown for certain, probably used by the old tribe of hostile Delaware Indians, before the time of Anthony Wayne, or more probably used by some tribe for its people who died in and around the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers during the Great Council of Indian Braves held at the now site of Fort Defiance in 1792.

Remains of Indian graves ahve been found here in the past.

6. Important Persons:

Unknown, names of even the tribe of Indians burying here is lost.

7. Markers:

This place is as yet unmarked and also unmapped, except by a short description by Dr. Charles E. Slocum in his History of the Maumee River Basis.

8. Epitaphs:  None

9. (Cemetery) is not used today, however there is an old graveyard called the Poole Graveyard located just across the ravine from this old Indian burial ground.

Cecil Cadwallader

Authority: A History of the Maumee River Basin by Dr. C. E. Slocum, 1905

Mr. Abram Smith, Defiance, Ohio, of the Defiance County Park Board

        
(The Works Progress Administration was formed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in reaction to the Great Depression as a means of employing Americans and stimulating the economy.  Established in 1935, one of the projects of the W.P.A. was to conduct Historical Records Surveys, one of which included finding information on cemeteries and the graves of veterans.  The W.P.A. was disbanded in 1943, but the historical information provided on these surveys continue to be of interest and are, thankfully, preserved.)