The Photo in the Header of the Blog ...

Since today is Halloween, I thought I would post on the photograph of the tombstones in my blog's header. Besides, what is more in spirit of Halloween than tombstones?

The photograph is a section of a picture I took of my ancestors' graves in the Prairie River Cemetery in Centreville, Saint Joseph county, Michigan. (I will be posting a little bit more on my ancestors' graves on Tuesday.) I just cropped out the the tombstones of my ancestors and left the rest of the tombstones in the picture. Nothing says graveyard better than a group of tombstones, right?

Anyhow, have a happy Halloween! Enjoy!

A List of Cemeteries I Hope To Talk About

I am not sure how many posts I will be posting between now and mid-December, but after Christmas, I definitely do plan on writing some posts on some cemeteries in Michigan. Here is just a list of cemeteries that I hope to eventually get around to posting on in the near future:

• Beard Cemetery, Saint Joseph County
• Calhoun Cemetery, Saint Joseph County
• Prairie River Cemetery, Saint Joseph County
• Placeway/Whitcomb Cemetery, Livingston County
• and of course many others ...

The cemeteries above are either ones where I have ancestors buried or ones that I am familiar with, and thus, these cemeteries will be among the first I will write about. Please stay tuned for future posts! Thanks.

Tombstone Tuesday ...

For this Tombstone Tuesday, I have decided to post a photograph of my ancestor's grave. This is the tombstone for Adam Oswalt, and since he was a veteran, his tombstone gives the name of the war he served in (which happened to be the Civil War) and the regiment as well. Adam is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Saint Joseph County, Michigan. I realize Three Rivers is a city, but I decided to post this picture because Three Rivers is a small city and is located in a county that is primarily rural. (I will try to not post photographs of tombstones from urban areas, but every so often, I'll post a photograph from this cemetery when I won't have photographs from other cemeteries available for posting.) Enjoy!

Looking For A Cemetery in Michigan? Here's A Place To Look

If you happen to be looking for a cemetery in Michigan, and you do not know where it might be, here is a book that might help you: Michigan Cemetery Atlas (Lansing, Michigan, 1991). This book lists the names of cemeteries in Michigan, and gives a location for those cemeteries by county. This is one way a person might be able to determine where a cemetery is located, or if they do not know the name of the cemetery, looking at the map for the county might help a person narrow down the name of the cemetery he or she is looking for. I know that the Library of Michigan has at least one copy of this book in their genealogy section.

Another source one could use to locate the county of a cemetery is the Library of Michigan Michigan Cemetery Sources database on its website. Again, this is a website that will give a list of names of cemeteries in a particular location. It does not contain a map of where the cemeteries are located, and the burial records for the cemeteries are not online. This site, though, is a place to start, if you are looking for the names of cemeteries in a particular area.

Of course, if you are going to go visit one of the cemeteries in Michigan, I would obtain a map of the local county that you plan to visit, so that you are able to find the cemetery. In addition, paying a visit to the local library near the cemetery would be a good idea, especially if you are looking for a specific person buried in that cemetery. The local library might have a transcription of the tombstones in the cemetery, and finding out where a grave is located will save time when you visit the cemetery.

My Goals For This Blog ...

As I noted in the header, this blog is part of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits, and since I am a member of this association, I will be using this blog to focus on information upon cemeteries, cemetery research, burial customs and other subjects related to cemeteries or cemetery research. As for my geographical focus, I plan to focus on rural cemeteries in Michigan. The cemetery or cemeteries could be in any part of Michigan, but they must be located in rural areas. I hope, by blogging about rural Michigan cemeteries, that I can bring attention to cemeteries in Michigan and that I can educate others to prevent people from vandalising cemeteries. In addition, I plan to post as much as I can on this blog about Michigan cemeteries, and I hope you will find this information interesting and enlightening. Enjoy!