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), 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.): 

general view of block 01

Below in lot 02 is Charles Robinson, veterinary surgeon of the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

Lot 07 is 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.

In lot 08 is the Dikeman family which includes Edmund B. Dikeman served in the 6th Michigan Cavalry. As you can see his government stone (left) has all but disappeared below ground.

Below in lot 09 is the Drew family. Alvin served in the 30th Michigan Infantry, Edward in the 10th Michigan Cavalry and their father in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

In lot 16 is Francis Magennis (government stone). He served in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics regiment.

Close by in lot 17 is the Covell family. Elliot served in the st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics and Henry L. in the 10th Michigan Cavalry.

Elliot

Henry

In lot 20 is William (Orasmus) Horton who served in the 8th Michigan Infantry.

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

In lot 23 is the Eaton family. Charles (Charley W.) 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

In lot 28 is the McLenithan family. This burial site is 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).

Finally, in lot 30 is Charles Henderson who served in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry.

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.

 

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

Pilgrim Home Cemetery

location of the 1847 log church

Van Raale plot

GAR monument and soldier's lot

Georg J. Koch Mt. Calvary Cemetery

Georg J. Koch served in Company C 3rd Michigan Infantry and is buried in section 1 lot 175/173. 

Company C was made up largely of German-speaking immigrants from the west side of Grand Rapids.

Mutter

Vater

Margaretha Koch (1839-1887)

George Koch (1830?-1889)

Genie Chubb in Fulton Street Cemetery

Ellen Winnowgene "Genie" Chubb (1868-1874) located in block 2. Inscription (now illegible) reads: "Too beautiful." 

Her marker has been on the family plot since 1874. When I photographed it in 2015 you could still read the inscription:

But that past 10 years have taken their toll:

3rd Michigan Men and Wives Buried at the Michigan Veterans Home

Authorized in 1885 by the state legislature, the Michigan Veterans Home opened in early 1886. 

c. 1900-1910, Library of Congress

There is a map board at the entrance from inside the grounds and located across the bridge over the pond. There is no map at the Monroe Street entrance. 

The cemetery layout is pretty straightforward seven sections (plots) laid out in rows numbered west to east and then graves numbered north to south.

The caption below each photo provides the location numbers: plot-row-grave which can be found on markers located along the edges of the plots (sections), like this one:

See my post for the burials of the 3rd Michigan Infantry reorganized soldiers.

Charles H. Adams (1836-1925) 7-20-8

John Alderson (1845-1913) 5-15-11 

Charles A. Althouse (1835-1911) 5-10-14

Alfred Ames (1841-1921) 7-22-17

James Babe (1839-1903) 4-14-38

William Henry Baird (1839-1921)  7-15-22

George Bodendorfer (1826-1891) 3-8-3

Zimri Burnham (1824-1900) 4-9-29

William Courser (1836-1913) and Mary Courser (1848-1928)

6-8-9

6-8-10

Mary Sparling Dart's husband John Dart served in Company B. It appears he and Mary were estranged for many years. John died in 1903 and is buried in Blue Mound Cemetery, Milford, Nebraska.

5-14-5

George Decker (1841-1922) 7-17-5

James M. Ferris (1838-1901) 4-11-9

John Foulks (1833-1905) 4-17-29

Oscar O. Gaines (1843?-1887) 1-4-11

William H. Graham (1828-1899) 2-6-6

Lycurgus Granger (1839-1915) 7-4-37

Calvin Hall (1826-1898) 2-9-12

William Herrick (1818-1893) 4-3-6

Ira Hiler (1835-1920) 7-13-27

George Houseman (1841-1923) 7-19-33

William Jones (1833-1897) 1-1-3

Abram Ketchum (1823-1906) 4-19-30

George Korten (1845-1903) 4-15-33

Tyler Lawson (1840-1906) and his wife Susan Packard Lawson (1838-1906).

 4-20-33

5-10-1

Thomas Lynch (1839-1891) 3-9-7

William Henry Harrison Marlett (1841-1917) 7-10-11

Charles W. McCalley (1820-1897) 1-2-27

George Kippen Nairn (1836-1905) 4-18-23

George Phillips served in both the 3rd Michigan Infantry and the 21st Michigan Infantry.

George W.Phillips (1838-1910) 5-7-5

Samuel Reed (1840-1913)  and his wife Caroline Lenor Jones Reed (1836-1914).

6-7-5 

6-7-4

James Reynolds of Company D presents an a bit of a mystery. He died at the Home in 1914 and is buried in the Home Cemetery both Home records and death certificate confirms this. However, there is a government headstone for him in Carson City Cemetery, Montcalm County. Online records for that cemetery intimate that he was "reburied" in 1886. The government's online records for veterans headstones notes the stone was acquired c. 1900. 

Also of note is that his second wife Phoebe Armstrong Stevens is buried in the Home cemetery as well: 5-9-7 (under the name of Stevens); the marker lists her date of death as May 2, 1918; it was May 2, 1919.

James Reynolds (1840-1914) 7-1-5

Phebe (Reynolds) Stevens (1837-1919) 5-9-7

William Rusco (1836-1890) 3-3-1

John Sayles (1846-1921) and Mary Carpenter Sayles (1848-1926. John served in both the 3rd Michigan Infantry and the 6th Michigan Cavalry.

6-10-21 and 22

Charles H. C. Scaddin (1827-1916) 7-6-30

Ludwig Frederick Schmidt (1823-1905) 4-18-2

Harding (not Hearding) Smith (1822-1899) 2-6-4

Ezra Stewart (1836-1907) 4-21-33

Chauncey Brewer Taylor (1843-1920) 7-13-34

John Taylor (1824-1897) 1-2-33

Samuel Thurston (1841?-1897) 1-2-20

Charles S. Warren (1844-1917) and Mary Spencer Warren (1851-1926).

6-4-22

6-4-23

Charles M. Woodruff (1834-1915) and his wife Eliza Jane Collier Woodruff (1847-1917).

6-5-25

6-5-24

George Woodruff (1841-1904) 4-17-17

John Wright (1829-1900) 4-9-28