North American Cemeteries

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Civil War Veterans in Fulton Cemetery block 3

[For details on this project visit the introduction in the block 01 post. By lot no.]

Block 03 consists of at least 6 veterans of the Civil War.

Lot 8. John J. Leonard served in the 2nd Michigan Infantry. His marker has disappeared.

Lot 8 1/2. Silas Pelton and his son Albert both served in the 3rd Michigan Infantry.

Lot 21. William Warn (or Ward) who according to Francis Hall served in Company H 74th Indiana Infantry. He is not found in the index for that company in the 74th Indiana.

Lot 25. John W. Simonds served in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

Lot 25. Martin Bierma served in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry from Milwaukee.

note Bierma's government stone slipping away on the right

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Civil War Veterans in Fulton Cemetery block 2

[For details on this project visit the introduction in the block 01 post. By lot no.]

Block 02 consists of at least 10 veterans of the Civil War, including one cenotaph (Chubb).

Lot 2 is the Hartman family. Charles Hartman served in the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

Charles' marker is on the right

Lot 6. Darwin Lyon served in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

Lot 9. George Wesatlake served in the 21st Michigan Infantry and subsequently in the Veterans Reserve Corps (Invalid Corps). His marker is just to the right of the family stone.

Lot 10. Jeremiah W. Boynton served in the 10th Michigan Cavalry. He is not mentioned by Francis Hall. There are no separate markers for any of the family members.

Lot 14. The Chubb family and on the obelisk is a memorial for John Fay Chubb.

John is in fact buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Lot 18. Jerome Gouldsbury who served in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics. Like the Boynton family there are no separate markers for family members.

Lot 20. Midshipman Anthony Rutgers Truax died in the spring of 1865 while at home on leave from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD. He is buried next to his father (?) Dr. John Truax (no marker).

Lot 28. Buried with the Walden-Marsh families in lot 28 is William Mottley who served in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics.

Lot 31. Thomas Sargeant. Not mentioned by Francis Hall or in the Michigan regimental index. His marker is gone.

Lot 33. Jonathan Silcox. Not mentioned by Francis Hall or in the Michigan regimental index. No marker.

Monday, May 4, 2026

Civil War Veterans in Fulton Cemetery block 1

A research project to identify and locate the 177 (more or less) Civil War Veterans buried in Fulton Street Cemetery, Grand Rapids.

This includes 11 cenotaphs.

Results are based cross-referencing the cemetery records (transcribed first by the D.A.R and subsequently by researchers in Grand Rapids), the cemetery's burial cards, Findagrave, State of Michigan military service records, visual confirmation, and the research of Francis Hall in the 1920s and 1930s (available in the GRPL). It should be noted that only a few have government headstones.

Block 01 (by lot no.) consists of some 17 veterans of the Civil War, which includes at least one cenotaph (Henry Lawyer).

general view of block 01

Lot 2. Charles Robinson, veterinary surgeon of the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

Lot 7. The McCray family including Gilbert Marshall McCray and Stuart B. McRay.

Gilbert Marshal McCray and Stuart McCray

Stuart served in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry. Gilbert, although reported as a Civil War veteran by Francis Hall, is not found in the Michigan regimental index.

Lot 8. Edmund B. Dikeman served in the 6th Michigan Cavalry. As you can see his government stone (left) has all but disappeared below ground.

Lot 9. Alvin Drew served in the 30th Michigan Infantry, Edward in the 10th Michigan Cavalry and their father in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

Lot 16. Francis Magennis (government stone) served in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics regiment.

Lot 17. Elliot Covell served in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics and Henry L. in the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

Elliot

Henry

Lot 20. William (Orasmus) Horton served in the 8th Michigan Infantry.

Lot 22. Franklin Wheeler served for a 100 days in the 143rd Illinois Infantry and may have served in the 3rd Michigan Infantry.

Lot 23. Charles (Charley W.) Eaton served in the 21st Michigan Infantry.

Lot 26 has two civil war veteran burials and one cenotaph. Peter Lawyer and his son Henry both served in the 3rd Michigan. Peter was discharged for disability, returned home and died in 1863; his son Henry was killed at the Wilderness, Virginia, the following year. Henry's is probably a cenotaph. Also in the lot is the Randall family. Milo served in the 21st Michigan infantry.

Lawyer center above the flat stone

lot 26 with the Randall family in the center

Lot 28. This burial site presents a bit of a puzzle. There are two government stones: one for Joel McLenithan and the other S. D. McLenithan, both men having served in the 3rd Michigan. Joel, however, died in Indiana and is reportedly buried in Sumption Prairie Cemetery, North Liberty, IN. Little else is known of his brother S. D. (Stephen) after the war. To confuse matters, reportedly buried here but without a stone is their mother Mary, another brother Samuel (also without a stone) and his widow Lucina Haney. The cemetery burial records list just three McLenithans: Mary (died 1857), Joe, and Samuel (died 1880).

Lot 20. Charles Henderson served in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Edwin Buchanan in Mecosta County

Edwin Buchanan served in Company D, 3rd Michigan Infantry. He along with several of his family members are buried in Aetna Township cemetery, Morley, Michigan.

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Association for Gravestone Studies Conference 2026

The Association for Gravestone Studies will hold its annual conference in June of 2026 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can find out more on their website:

https://www.gravestonestudies.org/conferences/2026-conference