ALWARD LAKE CEMETERY

 

The present Alward Lake cemetery in section 20 of Olive Township is by far the smallest of the DeWitt area burial grounds. Located on the southeast corner of DeWitt and Alward roads, it is merely half of what was once two burial grounds at this location. On the west side of DeWitt road, directly across from the present cemetery, was once another separate and private graveyard, sometimes referred to as the "old French cemetery".

 

Alward Cemetery

 

The present Alward Lake cemetery was apparently begun in the early 1850's (possibly earlier) as the family burial ground of the Alward fam­ily, although the earliest surviving tombstone here is for Mary Smith who died Dec. 26, 1853. Unfortunately, there are many unmarked graves in this cemetery so it is impossible to determine if any burials predate this one. It is probably significant to note that row #4, the three marked Alward graves, is of a different dimension and not in alignment with the other rows; indicating that there were probably burials here which predated the surveying and marking off of burial lots.

At an undetermined point in time this graveyard was deeded to Olive Township for use as a public cemetery. But it did not receive the use nor the attention as did the other two public cemeteries of the township; the Wilsey and the Merrihew (or North Olive). By the end of the 19th century, it was a disgrace of brush, trees, weeds and rocks.

In 1897, the Ladies Reading Circle (a neighborhood social organization) formed the Alward Lake Society and charged it with the task of cleaning up the cemetery. By the efforts of these ladies (and their husbands) it was cleared, graded, tiled for drainage and many of the markers were set back in place.

The first president of this society was Myra Brown. Early workers included: Flora Huot, Lydia Huot, Gusta Lankton, Esther Lankton, Virginia Lapham, Millie Miller, Caroline Huguelet, Mary Herblet, Dill Rockwell and Elsia Reynolds.

The Alward Lake Society earned money for this project by serving dinners at their regular meetings at ten cents per person. Olive Town­ship also assisted with financial support. A later project of the group was the printing of a cookbook with recipes submitted by local ladies. The society remained active for many years.

Besides the projects of landscaping, the Alward Lake Society also purchased markers for many of the known unmarked graves. These small cement cylinders, many still in place, are embossed with simply the word "GRAVE" on their upturned ends and are set flush into the ground.

The cemetery has seen little use in more modern times and the newest grave is dated 1960.

 

 

RUSSELL or "OLD FRENCH" CEMETERY

 

The history of this half of the Alward Lake Cemetery remains almost totally forgotten.

According to Earl Miller, who witnessed this cemetery's removal early in this century, oral tradition in his family maintained that it had been established and used by Indians and early French settlers of the surrounding area.

John P. Russell, a Frenchman and a large Olive Township landowner, owned the land on which this cemetery was located. He is mostly remem­bered as the owner of "The Traveler's Home", a stage stop of the mid-19th century which was located on the east side of DeWitt road, just a short distance south of Alward road. His burial ground evidently remained in private ownership even after ownership of the land passed on to others for it has not been found noted on any plat maps (unlike its companion cemetery directly across the road).

Unfortunately, no information as to the number of marked graves in this cemetery has come to light. Mr. Miller is able to identify three graves in the DeWitt cemetery as having come from the former cemetery. All of these are in lot #21 of section B along side the graves of John P. and Flora E. (Wixom) Huot who owned the land on which that cemetery was located at the time of its removal.

The three identified graves are of Mary C. Russell (wife of John P. Russell), Jean Louis Hout (O-U instead of the later U-O) who operated a brewery just north of the Traveler's Home stage stop, and Marie Hout Lonier, wife of A. Lonier. These death dates range from 1866 to 1878. All three of these surnames are closely associated with the early French settlements made in the neighborhood.

 

ALWARD LAKE CEMETERY

 

 

Tombstone Reading

and Report

 

1986

 

This reading was taken row by row, west to east, with each row running north to south.

 

Row

Last Name

First Name

Dates

Comment

1

REED

Ransom

10/28/1806-11/14/1874

See note 1 below

 

REED

Julia

11/21/1819-10/17/1900

wife of Ranson REED

 

"Grave"

 

 

 

 

"Grave"

 

 

 

2

SMITH

Nathan

d. 12/27/1878, a. 89-5-24

See note 2 below

 

SMITH

Mary

d. 12/26/1856, a. 64-2-12

wife of Nathan SMITH; See note 3 below

3

REED

Zada J.

d. 2/15/1859, a. 9-10-8

dau. of Ranson & Julia REED

 

NEWMAN

Jay J.

d. 9/3/1869, a. 16

son of W. & L. NEWMAN; Marker broken into several pieces

4

ALWARD

Nathaniel

d. 3/28/1854, a. 23-6-13

See note 4 below

 

ALWARD

Roday

d. 3/7/1856, a. 19y-23d

wife of Henry C. ALWARD

 

ALWARD

Henry C.

d. 1/10/1884, a. 81-11-10

stone broken and loose

5

TUCKER

Alice R.

d. 5/29/1873, a. 16-10-26

dau. of H. & L. TUCKER

 

TUCKER

Esther M.

d. 9/29/1861, a. 19yrs-1week

dau. of H. & L. TUCKER; See note 5 below

 

TUCKER

Hiram

d. 10/31/1870, a. 61-5-12

marker broken into several pieces and loose

 

TUCKER-MERCHANT

Lucy

d. 8/29/1888, a. 76-1-18

nee: SMITH; wife of Hiram TUCKER & also William MERCHANT; see note 6 below

6

unknown

 

 

 

7

unknown

 

 

 

8

WHITE

Charley W.

d. 2/14/1871, a. 1mo-19days-15hrs

son of A.M. & U.W. WHITE; see note 7 below

 

HERBLET

Mary B.

8/11/1832-7/11/1920

"MOTHER"

 

HERBLET

Nicholas

9/29/1833-10-5/1875

"FATHER"

 

HERBLET

Jessie

1881-1886

"DAUGHTER"

 

HERBLET

John N.

10/12/1864-10/16/1926

"BROTHER"

 

HERBLET

Frank A.

5/12/1875-1/9/1961

"BROTHER"

9-11

unknown

 

 

 

12

DRUMHELLER

William

1874-1946

 

 

DRUMHELLER

Flora

1885-1946

 

 

FALOR

Alex

9/26/1858-3/16/1929

 

 

FALOR

Martha O.

1/22/1857-5/6/1900

 

 

FALOR

Albert L.

2/8/1896-8/21/1896

 

 

FALOR

Delbert L.

2/8/1896-8/20/1896

 

13

SMITH

Lewis

1824-1894

 

 

SMITH

Mary J.

1835-1923

nee: VAN DYKE

 

SMITH

Casper

1877-1953

 

 

LYON

Zada V.

1881-1955

 

 

LYON

Chas. L.

1878-1960

 

Other

unknown

 

d. 7/17/1862

See note 8 below

 

1.      His original white limestone marker is now fragmented into several pieces, part of which were used as footings for the present (ca. 1900) brown granite marker.  Another large portion of the original stone is discarded in the fence row brush pile to the south.

2.      Only the lowest portion of this marker remains.  The rest, now missing, was still intact in 1938.

3.      This marker has been broken into several pieces, the lowest of which is still embedded in the ground.  One piece was located laying atop another grave and a third piece was found in the fence row brush pile to the south.

4.      This row is not in alignment with the other rows.

5.      The top-most portion of this stone, including the given name, has been broken off and lost.  The stone itself is broken at the base and was found in row #2.

6.      Amazingly, even the footstone of this grave remains intact.

7.      Stone is extremely weathered but footstone remains intact.

8.      Among the brush and debris piled along the fence row to the south is one unidentified stone whose original "owner" died July 17, 1862.  The stone, 22½ inches wide and 2 inches thick, is engraved with the following verse:

"What glorious peace I now enjoy

  Free from pain and earths alloy

  My happy spirit soars away

              To live with God in heavenly day."