An early attempt to record Native American petroglyphs located at what is now called the Wellsville Site on the Ohio River was made by one Benjamin Henfrey. In 1798 he made a number of drawings of these petroglyphs and sent them to then Vice-president Thomas Jefferson. It should be noted that the Wellsville Site is in the same general region as the Smith’s Ferry Site that may have been observed by George Washington in 1770 leading us to wonder if George had seen these as well.
Benjamin Henfrey was an English born Geologist and entrepreneur who had emigrated to the United States before 1791. He apparently tried to make a living as a private assayer in Philadelphia. He was also involved in promoting a series of unsuccessful mining ventures. He also apparently traveled in the new US territories prospecting for potential mineral development.
“ Although few details of Henfrey’s travels are known, he was at Fort Wayne in June 1798. He had obtained the release of a captive held by the Potawatomi Indians, which probably means that he had been in the westernmost parts of the Northwest Territory.” (Founders Online 2016)
Benjamin Henfrey, 1798.
Harold Barth, 1908. From Swauger, 1974.
The drawings and text are from a letter to Thomas Jefferson dated 31 December 1798, by Benjamin Henfrey.
I have attempted to preserve the original spelling and punctuation. “These Curious Hieroglyphs, are Picked in lines on a very hard Black Granite rock the surface even and horizontal, the marks of a Tool was very visible in the lines. There was upwards of a hundred more but I had not time to take them Consisting of different Beasts & Fishes. I also observed many that was evidently meant to represent the feet of Animals, and was Very natural -
I thought that some was meant to describe Certain roads having that resemblance -
The rock on which these Hieroglyphics are picked out exhibits a plain surface equal to a square of about 20 Feet - the river here was deep, I put down a pole about 12 Feet and could feel the rock continue to the bottom
The man (John Hooton) who informed me of this rock says that it is the best place for Fish near his settlement and my Opinion lies that the Indians may have amused themselves in making those figures when fishing there and that they were Cut or Picked out at many different times, I have inquired respecting this Idea of many Savages but I never met with one who could give me any information on the subject - B. Henfrey” (Founders Online 2016)
“John Hooten (Hooton) died in March 1798 when his canoe capsized in the Ohio River about 50 miles below Pittsburgh..” (Founders Online 2016)
“Rock on which these figures are cut: the petroglyphs drawn by Henfrey were along the Ohio River in what became Columbiana County, Ohio. Archaeologists identify the location as the Dam No. 8 site. It has also been called the Wellsville site. Most of what is known of the pictures of animals, people, mythological creatures, and geometric designs incised in the sandstone there comes from information collected in 1908 and 1909, before the construction of a dam destroyed some of the images and put the others beneath water and mud. Some published illustrations of the pictures, taken from rubbings made before the site was flooded, are mirror images of the petroglyphs as Henfrey saw them and drew them.” (Founders Online 2016)
In 1802 Henfrey received a patent on a method of providing gas light to cities and buildings from coal. In the end nothing came from Henfrey’s many schemes and he reportedly died in poverty in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Henfrey, 1798.
As in so many early records of rock art the actual images often have little in common with the supposed record, many of the drawings seemingly have been “improved” in the copying and bear little resemblance to the originals, but then some are surprisingly accurate.
The site and its rock art were later drawn in 1908 by a local, Harold Barth, and many of Barth's drawings were used by James Swauger in his 1974 book Rock Art of the Upper Ohio Valley (see references).
NOTE: In transcribing Benjamin Henfrey's letter a number of his spellings were changed to modern usages.
Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCE:
“Benjamin Henfrey’s Drawings of Petroglyphs, 31 December 1798, [document added in digital edition],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-9001. [This document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson is original to the digital edition. It was added on 30 June 2016.]
SECONDARY REFERENCE:
Swauger, James, Rock Art Of The Upper Ohio Valley, January 1, 1974, Akadem. Druck-u, Verlagsanst Publisher.
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