THE BONES OF SAINT ANTOINE'S
By Ralph Naveaux
In the summer of 1999, work began on a new subdivision near the historic site of St. Antoine’s Church in Monroe, Michigan. The church was established in 1788 and was later moved into downtown Monroe and renamed St. Mary’s in the middle of the 19th century. The graveyard, containing the remains of 500 of Monroe’s earliest pioneers, was abandoned some 150 years ago, eventually reverting to farmland. According to local folklore, the remains were transferred to other cemeteries.
Unfortunately, records were unclear about the final disposition of the bodies and the exact location of the original cemetery. After some heavy rains in August, neighbors began picking bones off the surface, which they turned in to the Monroe County Historical Museum. City authorities took over once it had been established that the bones were human. The developer had already put in all the major infrastructure, such as sewer lines and a road, but halted actual building of the homes and hired Midwest Environmental to conduct an archaeological search for the cemetery.
In the space of 3 days, an archaeological team under the direction of Bill Rutter and Mike Pratt located 45 graves in the southeast corner of the development, bordering a small park dedicated to the memory of St. Antoine’s Church. The team did not excavate the graves, but mapped them, concentrating on locating the boundaries of the old cemetery.
Little or no artifacts were found in direct association the graves, although a number of mid-19th century ceramics were found on the surface, as well as both wild and domestic animal bones. Human bones, exposed as heavy equipment scraped off the top layers of soil, were picked up and mark in relation to each grave. Some graves appeared empty, but most showed bones, nails, and some times even fragments of wood. A piece of pelvic bone showed at least one woman’s grave.
Individual graves were clearly visible as dark stains barely 2 feet down in the compacted clay soil. A number of very small stains represented the graves of children or babies. It is thought an upper layer of sand and gravel had been removed in earlier times, possibly along with an upper layer of human remains. The graves were marked, mapped, and then covered back up.
By state law, it appears that the city will have to bear the expense of relocating the remains to a new cemetery if the developer insists. Another alternative would be to purchase the land and expand the current memorial park to enclose it.
"The Friends of St. Antoine", was formed by citizens interested in preserving the remains of Monroe's first pioneer cemetery. They are negotiating with the developer, city officials, the Church, and the Community Foundation to provide a workable plan.
The Friends of St. Antoine wee able to arrange for the services of a dog trained in detecting human skeletal remains. The dog, Doberman - German Short Hair Pointer mix was able to locate 35 more graves. The cemetery appears to be limited to 3 of the proposed 17 lots. Some scattered remains were found beyond the 3 lots, but it is thought these were deposited by farming and construction machinery. It is hoped the field can also be scanned by infrared, thermal imaging radar.
AN UPDATE ON RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS ALONG THE RIVER RAISIN, IN MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
August 21, 2000 by Ralph Naveaux
The Bones of St-Antoine's: In August of 1999, I was caught "red-handed" in possession of some unidentified human remains. These remains consisted of bones removed from a housing development site by a pair of very concerned citizens. They knew the area had once contained our community's first cemetery, the graveyard for St. Antoine's Church (1788-1821), so they had been watching to see if the bulldozers and backhoes disturbed any burials. Although the police objected to our not contacting them first, the museum sent the bones on for analysis. They were indeed human. Although the adjoining St. Antoine Memorial Park was listed on the State Register of Historic Places, references to the cemetery had disappeared from county maps drawn since the 1950's. The city granted the developer the necessary permits without requiring an archaeological study. As speculation rose about the likelihood of finding more remains, the Catholic Church, city government, and most historical agencies tried to distance themselves from the situation.
A group of concerned citizens, calling themselves the Friends of St. Antoine's, then stepped in to act as a liaison between the developer, the city, and other public agencies. The developer agreed to pay for an archaeological study to determine if any more burials were located on his property. Over the next few months, archaeologists led by Bill Rutter and Dr. Pratt of Midwest Environmental found 45 of the possibly 500 burials listed in old church records. Sandra Anderson brought in her cadaver-sniffing dog, Eagle, to help find the boundaries of the cemetery. Bob Melia of the Louisiana-based Real-Time Thermal Imaging flew his thermal imaging equipment over the site in a Channel 11 helicopter to confirm what was found by the others. The results indicated that the burials were confined to the first 3 lots of the new subdivision. The graves were left in place. Those scattered bones which had been removed were reburied at the site in February, 2000. The Friends began raising the $105,000 required to buy the 3 lots from the developer. Unfortunately, the Friends group was unable to raise the money. In a surprise move, in August, 2000, almost exactly a year after the discovery of the bones, the County of Monroe agreed to purchase the property and maintain it as a county park. In contrast to the city, the county has taken on the leadership in this issue. It has formed a county-wide cemetery committee to map and record all our old and abandoned cemeteries to help prevent this sort of situation from arising in the future.
Forensic Dog School: Sandra Anderson of Canine Solutions, Inc., has been interested in Monroe ever since she first brought her forensic dog, Eagle, to Monroe to help locate the boundaries of the old, abandoned cemetery of St. Antoine. Normally used to locate victims of war-time atrocities, crimes, or natural disasters, Eagle was found to be capable of finding historic remains, as well. In addition to St.Antoine's Cemetery, Eagle has spotted a prehistoric burial along the Huron River, the old Brest Cemetery on Stony Creek, empty grave sites in Woodland Cemetery, unknown burials in St. Joseph's Cemetery, an Indian ambush site along Plum Creek, additional graves around the Kentucky monument and the Lotus Fountain, the old protestant cemetery under Monroe Street, and a scattering of bones still remaining on the River Raisin Battlefield.
On August 17, 2000, Sandra held a training session for a dozen other dogs. Although Eagle is part Doberman and part German short hair, there were a variety of other breeds, from a border collie to a golden retriever. The trainee dogs were taken to sites where burials were known to be, and their work was checked by running Eagle over the same areas. Some dogs were more successful than others. High weeds in certain areas made it difficult for the dogs to get their noses down to the ground. Tree roots and other intrusions can throw the scent off. Even Eagle got so tired by the end of the day that he didn't locate any remains in the Brest Cemetery and had to be brought back the next morning, at which time he located quite a few.
River Raisin Battlefield: In 1998, the City of Monroe hired Dr. G. Michael Pratt of Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, to coordinate a dig at the proposed "Riviere aux Raisins" park, located on a portion of the River Raisin Battlefield. An 18th century shoe buckle was found, but no artifacts relating to the battle fought here during the War of 1812. There was one significant feature uncovered, however. Post molds (darkened areas of soil) showed where the western fence line of the old settlement of Frenchtown was located.
Dr. Pratt and his team returned to continue their investigations from August 15-19, 2000. Again, there were no battle relics, but they did manage to find remains of Frenchtown's northern fence, stretching beneath a concrete parking lot. This was the position of the main American battle line. A button and some bits of ceramic were dug up, which may date from the early days of the French-American settlement. A prehistoric (Late Woodland) Native-American component to the site was also found. Artifacts included flint chips, a couple of broken projectile points, and some animal bones. One of the points was identified as a Madison Point (1200-1700 A.D.) The animal bones included a rather large bear tooth. Metal detectors were used to search the grounds behind the Battlefield Visitor Center, but attempts were stymied by a thick layer of ash and cinders which had been dumped on the property by the nearby paper mills. Earlier identified by Eagle, a cadaver-sniffing dog, a site which was thought to contain human bones, also produced no evidence of the battle.