Ada Cemetery, Ada, Michigan

Rix Robinson - one of the earliest settlers of western Michigan

Robinson portrait relief (detail)

Henry Smith

Jonathan Clear

Civil War veterans plot in Oakwood Cemetery, Allegan, Michigan

There is a curious collection of a half dozen civil war veteran burials right at the first entrance off of Western Avenue (Kellogg Street in the cemetery) to Oakwood (if you're coming from town).

What makes this group of government headstones curious is this space doesn't seem to be a specially designated area just for veterans nor does it appear to be connected with any GAR post. It's just a group of unrelated (?) possibly indigent veterans.

Eugene W. Martin, Company H 7th Michigan Cavalry - KIA
J. H. Harrington, Company G, New York Infantry, regiment unknown
Joseph Helsel, Company E, 21st Michigan Infantry
SGT William K. Rockwell, Company I, 5th Michigan Cavalry - KIA
James B. Daget, Company G, 16th Michigan Infantry
Illegible name, Company A, 3rd Michigan Cavalry

South Casnovia Cemetery in Muskegon County - 3rd Michigan Infantry

William Chase - 3rd reorganized Michigan Infantry

Gabriel Pruden - marker is starting to show it's age

Ira Johnson

Mortimer Bonner

Maple Grove Cemetery, Fremont, Michigan - 3rd Michigan Inf.

There are six former members of the 3rd Michigan Infantry (first organization) buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Fremont. One of them, Zeph Moe of Company K, is buried in the Grand Army of the Republic lot in block 4.

Zeph Moe (b. 1843) of Company K

William Paradise (1843-1875) of Company H

Shinar Preston (1839-1932) of Company K

George W. Tait (1837-1900) of Company K

William McErwan )1844-1915) of Company K

John Barnard (1836-1915) of Company H

Miner Emlaw in Lake Cemetery Cemetery, Grand Haven, Michigan: the importance of photodocumenting monuments

I cannot stress enough the importance of photographing, photodocumenting if you will, cemetery monuments. Nothing lasts forever, not even stone (except in Brittany where the passage graves are older than the pyramids of Egypt), as you can see from the series of photographs below.

The grave site belongs to the family of Miner Emlaw, buried in Lake Forest Cemetery, Grand Haven, Michigan. Miner served in the American Civil War as a private in the 3rd regiment of volunteers from the state of Michigan and his marker is a simple government stone.

The first two photographs I shot nearly 25 years ago; the second pair in 2016.

As you can see, while the other markers (his two wives one on either side of his stone) and later family members are still in fine shape. Miner's stone, however, has simply sunk to the point where it's nearly illegible.

c. 1990:

2016:

Ashland Cemetery, Newaygo County, Michigan - 3rd Michigan Inf.

There are two veterans of the 3rd Michigan Infantry (first organization) buried in Ashland Cemetery:

• Conrad Kritzer (1840-1916) of Company C (the "German" company) 
• Porter Thayer (1830-1886) of Company H (the headstone mistakenly lists Company F). 

GAR monument

Vander Vlucht in Lucas Cemetery

Vander Vlucht (or Vandervlucht) is a fairly prevalent name in the Lucas area. What fascinated me is the different monument styles represented by just this one family in an otherwise typical rural cemetery in northern Michigan. From the traditional small lamb atop a small stone representing a child's grave (and in this case three lambs and three children) to a fairly typical upright stone to a highly personalized and stylized monument.

Faye Irene, Debbie Jo and Delores Carol:

Isaac and Frances:

Jared:

Lucas family buried in Lucas Cemetery in Lucas, Michigan

On a recent trip up north to visit some of Susan's family in Lucas, Michigan, we stopped to pay respects to ancestors long gone. My Mother-in-law's mother's maiden name was Nellie Lucas and she grew up on the family farm in Lucas, Michigan.

After a wonderful lunch visiting with Bernice's cousins we toured a bit of the countryside, compliments of cousin Harv. Along the way we stopped at the family cemetery where we paid our respects to my mother-in-law's maternal grandparents Betsy and Dick Lucas as well as a couple of her uncles (Abe and herman).

Joseph M. Rounds in McBain Cemetery

Joseph Michael Rounds Jr. was born on July 23, 1842, in Jerusalem, Yates County, New York, the son of Joseph Michael Sr. (1808-1871) and Matilda Carmer (b. 1808).

Joseph’s parents were married in New York in 1828 and eventually settled in Jerusalem, Yates County where they lived until at least 1842. About 1844 Joseph Sr.’s father Horton moved his extended family to Michigan, settling in Kent County, and after the death of Joseph Sr.’s mother in 1848 he eventually remarried.

By 1850 Joseph Jr. was living with his family in Courtland, Kent County. Next door was William H. Rounds, Joseph’s uncle, age 31, and next door to William was his grandfather Horton.

Joseph Jr. was a 19-year-old laborer probably living in New York, unable to read or write when he enlisted in Company G on May 13, 1861, about the same time his Joseph (elder) enlisted in Company F. Joseph Jr. was discharged on July 30, 1861, at Arlington, Virginia for secondary syphilis, contracted prior to enlistment.

After his discharge from the army, Joseph Jr. returned to Michigan.

He married Michigan native Eliza or Eva A. (b. 1840) and they had at least three children: Abram (b. 1865), James A. (b. 1867) and Matilda (b. 1869).

By 1870 Joseph Jr. was working as a farm laborer and living with his wife and children on his parents farm in Algoma, Kent County. At some point between 1870 and 1880 Joseph and Eva (or Eliza) were divorced and she remarried Samuel Botruff. Joseph Jr. was living in Grand Rapids in 1888 when he testified in the pension claim of James Austin (who had served in Company I during the war).

On October 21, 1889, Joseph married Mrs. Frances Armistead Harmon (1846-1905) in Charlotte, Eaton County and was reportedly buried in McBain, Missaukee County (this has not been confirmed).

Joseph was residing in Charlotte’s 1st Ward, Eaton County in 1890 and 1894.

In 1870 Joseph applied for and eventually received a pension (application no. 900109).

Joseph was listed as a widower when he died of syphilis and heart disease at 517 Lansing Street in Charlotte on November 9, 1908, and was buried in Mount View cemetery, McBain, Missaukee County. There appears to be other burials nearby -- nor are there any other Rounds, Harmons, Armisteads or any other family that might provide a clue as to why Joseph Jr. is buried in McBain.