I am trying to find information on my ancestor Thomas D. Needham. He was born Dec. 1795 and died in South Saginaw in 1857. I do not have an obituary or know where he was buried. If anyone has any clues or information they can look up I would greatly appreciate it. thanks, cheryl

That's it. Sue said she would show me where it is Wednesday. Patrick Bohinski <Bohinski@Chartermi.net> wrote:SWielin wrote: One is the James Township Cemetery Located in Saginaw County, Michigan Section 5, T11N, R4 E North side of Stroebel Road, 1/4 mile west of South Center. This was previously known as the Swan Creek or McBrantnie Cemetery. Isn't this the cemetery you were looking for Carolyn? I think someone called it the Stroebel Cemetery. Pat

Deb,        Thanks for asking. As far as I know there is no one in my husband's ancestral tree by either name. We were searching for SCHNELL ancestors. We photographed 5 headstones. Actually they turned out clearer than I anticipated, given the low light conditions. Carolyn,        I would be happy to scan the pictures of the five headstones I have from St. John's Cemetery and send them to you as jpg files if you could use them that way. Let me know. They are: "Baby" Son of  G. & M. Schnell; July 26, 1899 Hedwig, Daughter of G. & M. Schnell; May 10, 1897-Feb 4, 1898 Schnell        Margaretha  1865-1931  mother        George  1858-1932  father Martin Schnell  Nov. 20 1891- Dec. 21, 1926 Leota P. Schnell  1906-1971  mother I was wrong yesterday, St. John's Cemetery is actually on Beyer Road (not Dehmel). Mary Sue Schnell

Hi Carolyn, Thanks. I will look forward to seeing the information on Oakwood Mausoleum. I can tell you that the staff there are very friendly and they will let you look at their records. Shelly

Hi Pat, Thanks for responding. I had not thought of looking for the Crossroads Cemetery in the city directories. I will check it out. Do you know where this cemetery may have been moved too? The only thing I have been able to come up with is that the crossroads was some intersection of Brockway and another street. Does this sound familiar? Thank you. Shelly

Thanks, Caroyln. It is hard to keep all these St. Mary's straight! Pat

Just an FYI. We had the location of the Pendell plot in Brady Hill, but could find nothing. However, my brother dug down about twelve inches, and found the headstones that had been overturned probably 100 years ago. They were well preserved though. Jody Riddick Sarasota, Florida

I think the "Crossroads" may be a cemetery I've heard about that was moved for construction at some time. You might find it on the maps and /or cemetery listing in old city directories. pat

Hi Carolyn, I was just looking at the website. Am I correct that St. Mary's, Hemlock, has not been indexed and photographed? I thought I saw some email about this awhile back. Thanks for all your hard work. As someone who lives out of state I really appreciate your efforts to make research from afar easier. Pat

I was wondering....would there be an interest of lets say....the end of March (weather permitting) Anyone that would like to help photograph Brady Hill meet early on a Saturday for breakfast and organize how we will photograph the cemetery and then head over to the cemetery to photograph it as a group. If you don't own a camera your help could still be used to clean grass etc. from headstones. If you live out of town and would like to come for the weekend there is a couple of good hotels in Bridgeport right accross from Cracker Barrel. It is about an 10 minute drive to the cemetery. If it works out we could make it a monthly or bi-monthly thing. This is just a poll to see what kind of interest there would be. Carolyn

I agree these ladies have done fantastic work. I use their books often myself. Many of the stones they have transcribed you can no longer see the writing. So the photos of those stones would be lost forever. But thank God for the people that put so much work into transcribing them. Carolyn SWielin500@aol.com wrote:Hi, I have been very interested in the quest to photograph the cemeteries of Saginaw County. That is a great project. Many of the cemeteries mentioned have been "read" by some great ladies here in Saginaw County. One is the James Township Cemetery Located in Saginaw County, Michigan Section 5, T11N, R4 E North side of Stroebel Road, 1/4 mile west of South Center. This was previously known as the Swan Creek or McBrantnie Cemetery. I have been there. It is right on a very dangerous curve. Only 14 people are buried there. One is my great-great-grandfather, Martin Wenzel. I found the stone years ago laying flat on the ground. There are at least ten books published by the Saginaw Genealogical Society, Inc. on the Saginaw County Cemeteries. I am sure there are more. They, of course, don't contain pictures of the stones, but are very useful. They are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased from the Genealogical Society. Book Six contains: Buena Vista Twp., Kochville Methodist, Owen, Bethel Lutheran, FrankenmuthTwp., St. John's Lutheran. Book ten has James Township. Garfield Cem. 1, Garfield Cem. 2, Richland Lutheran, and Fremont Twp. Sherry

That sounds like a good Boy Scout project. Either a troop or an Eagle Scout project. I have seen articles in the paper about the scouts and all the work they have done in a cemetery and showed before and after pictures.. Hello, I have also wondered about who does or will do restoration in neglected cemeteries in Saginaw County. I would be willing to help.

Hello, I have also wondered about who does or will do restoration in neglected cemeteries in Saginaw County. I would be willing to help. Just in this past year, I have found evidence of vandalism in Oakwood Cemetery on Gratiot road. I have already photographed most of my relative's gravestones in Oakwood, but it is very upsetting to find some of the huge stones tampered with. As for Brady Hill.....I have not been able to locate my great great grandfather Elias Wirsing. He is either buried at Brady Hill or at a place called "The Crossroads" which I have not yet figured out. Does anyone have any records for Elias and Anna Dorthea Wirsing? He died in the mid 1800's. Is it possible that the index for Brady Hill does not include the toppled stones? Another question I have. How does one take a photograph of the front of the stone crypts at Oakwood Mausoleum? I have tried twice and the photos are barely readable due to the reflection of the flash off of the shiny stone. Is someone going to take digital photos of Oakwood Mausoleum? This would be great. Thank you. Shelly

I would love to have copies if you would like to email them. Saginawsue@aol.com wrote:Deb, Thanks for asking. As far as I know there is no one in my husband's ancestral tree by either name. We were searching for SCHNELL ancestors. We photographed 5 headstones. Actually they turned out clearer than I anticipated, given the low light conditions. Carolyn, I would be happy to scan the pictures of the five headstones I have from St. John's Cemetery and send them to you as jpg files if you could use them that way. Let me know. They are: "Baby" Son of G. & M. Schnell; July 26, 1899 Hedwig, Daughter of G. & M. Schnell; May 10, 1897-Feb 4, 1898 Schnell Margaretha 1865-1931 mother George 1858-1932 father Martin Schnell Nov. 20 1891- Dec. 21, 1926 Leota P. Schnell 1906-1971 mother I was wrong yesterday, St. John's Cemetery is actually on Beyer Road (not Dehmel). Mary Sue Schnell

I'm sure there are many, many stones that are grown over. I know I have to keep digging out the stones on my ancestors at Mt. Olivet. The stones are actually a few inches below grade now. I always thought Mt. Olivet was a perpetual care cemetery, doesn't that mean they raise the stones every so often so they don't get over grown by the lawn? Or does the perpetual care just mean they cut the grass? As far the toppled stones go, the ones I'm talking about are the hugh monoliths you see in these older cemeteries. I'm sure they were purposely toppled by vandals. I know that frost does move the smaller stones and you can see evidence of frost damage to alot of them. Some time ago I remember reading about a lot of damage done by vandals in quite a few of the cemeteries in and around the city of Saginaw. It's a shame some of our youth have no respect for these sacred places. Does anyone know of an organization that takes care of fixing this type of damage? I know the city will never do anything about it. I'd be happy to help out if there is such an organization. Pat Freeman Coats wrote: >><Many of the tombstones are of the old type that are only about 2" thick, >> >> >and many have toppled over. When they do, the sod starts creeping up on >them. A few years ago, I searched the cemetery for a tombstone that was >definitely supposed to be buried there. I didn't find it but I found many >tombstones that had been toppled (possibly accidentally) and the sod nearly >covered all of them. I imagine that there are many, many tombstones here >that are covered by a couple of inches of sod. > >

I have told my family to never pay for perpetual care. I see stones that have the placque for perpetual care on them and the only care I see is the grass is mowed. A generation after a person dies you don't see them being kept up anymore. Who is there after a few generations pass to complain? Patrick Bohinski <Bohinski@Chartermi.net> wrote:I'm sure there are many, many stones that are grown over. I know I have to keep digging out the stones on my ancestors at Mt. Olivet. The stones are actually a few inches below grade now. I always thought Mt. Olivet was a perpetual care cemetery, doesn't that mean they raise the stones every so often so they don't get over grown by the lawn? Or does the perpetual care just mean they cut the grass? As far the toppled stones go, the ones I'm talking about are the hugh monoliths you see in these older cemeteries. I'm sure they were purposely toppled by vandals. I know that frost does move the smaller stones and you can see evidence of frost damage to alot of them. Some time ago I remember reading about a lot of damage done by vandals in quite a few of the cemeteries in and around the city of Saginaw. It's a shame some of our youth have no respect for these sacred places. Does anyone know of an organization that takes care of fixing this type of damage? I know the city will never do anything about it. I'd be happy to help out if there is such an organization. Pat Freeman Coats wrote: >>>> >> >and many have toppled over. When they do, the sod starts creeping up on >them. A few years ago, I searched the cemetery for a tombstone that was >definitely supposed to be buried there. I didn't find it but I found many >tombstones that had been toppled (possibly accidentally) and the sod nearly >covered all of them. I imagine that there are many, many tombstones here >that are covered by a couple of inches of sod. > >

Many stones below grade are easier to run a lawn mower over Patrick Bohinski <Bohinski@Chartermi.net> wrote:I'm sure there are many, many stones that are grown over. I know I have to keep digging out the stones on my ancestors at Mt. Olivet. The stones are actually a few inches below grade now. I always thought Mt. Olivet was a perpetual care cemetery, doesn't that mean they raise the stones every so often so they don't get over grown by the lawn? Or does the perpetual care just mean they cut the grass? As far the toppled stones go, the ones I'm talking about are the hugh monoliths you see in these older cemeteries. I'm sure they were purposely toppled by vandals. I know that frost does move the smaller stones and you can see evidence of frost damage to alot of them. Some time ago I remember reading about a lot of damage done by vandals in quite a few of the cemeteries in and around the city of Saginaw. It's a shame some of our youth have no respect for these sacred places. Does anyone know of an organization that takes care of fixing this type of damage? I know the city will never do anything about it. I'd be happy to help out if there is such an organization. Pat Freeman Coats wrote: >>>> >> >and many have toppled over. When they do, the sod starts creeping up on >them. A few years ago, I searched the cemetery for a tombstone that was >definitely supposed to be buried there. I didn't find it but I found many >tombstones that had been toppled (possibly accidentally) and the sod nearly >covered all of them. I imagine that there are many, many tombstones here >that are covered by a couple of inches of sod. > >

Many graves have toppeled stones due to th people that cut the grass. I won't mention what cemeteries but you can tell when a stone has been hit by a lawn mower. Many of these are just to big to be pushed over by vandals and it would take some kind of machine to know them on an angle. Patrick Bohinski <Bohinski@chartermi.net> wrote:I'm sure there are many, many stones that are grown over. I know I have to keep digging out the stones on my ancestors at Mt. Olivet. The stones are actually a few inches below grade now. I always thought Mt. Olivet was a perpetual care cemetery, doesn't that mean they raise the stones every so often so they don't get over grown by the lawn? Or does the perpetual care just mean they cut the grass? As far the toppled stones go, the ones I'm talking about are the hugh monoliths you see in these older cemeteries. I'm sure they were purposely toppled by vandals. I know that frost does move the smaller stones and you can see evidence of frost damage to alot of them. Some time ago I remember reading about a lot of damage done by vandals in quite a few of the cemeteries in and around the city of Saginaw. It's a shame some of our youth have no respect for these sacred places. Does anyone know of an organization that takes care of fixing this type of damage? I know the city will never do anything about it. I'd be happy to help out if there is such an organization. Pat Freeman Coats wrote: >>>> >> >and many have toppled over. When they do, the sod starts creeping up on >them. A few years ago, I searched the cemetery for a tombstone that was >definitely supposed to be buried there. I didn't find it but I found many >tombstones that had been toppled (possibly accidentally) and the sod nearly >covered all of them. I imagine that there are many, many tombstones here >that are covered by a couple of inches of sod. > >

Hi Shelly The digital camera I have I can turn off the flash and have very little light and the pic comes out great. We will be doing the mausolem also. Carolyn Saja423@aol.com wrote:Hello, I have also wondered about who does or will do restoration in neglected cemeteries in Saginaw County. I would be willing to help. Just in this past year, I have found evidence of vandalism in Oakwood Cemetery on Gratiot road. I have already photographed most of my relative's gravestones in Oakwood, but it is very upsetting to find some of the huge stones tampered with. As for Brady Hill.....I have not been able to locate my great great grandfather Elias Wirsing. He is either buried at Brady Hill or at a place called "The Crossroads" which I have not yet figured out. Does anyone have any records for Elias and Anna Dorthea Wirsing? He died in the mid 1800's. Is it possible that the index for Brady Hill does not include the toppled stones? Another question I have. How does one take a photograph of the front of the stone crypts at Oakwood Mausoleum? I have tried twice and the photos are barely readable due to the reflection of the flash off of the shiny stone. Is someone going to take digital photos of Oakwood Mausoleum? This would be great. Thank you. Shelly

Hi Pat St. Mary's in St. Charles has been completed but not in Hemlock. Carolyn Palev46@aol.com wrote:Hi Carolyn, I was just looking at the website. Am I correct that St. Mary's, Hemlock, has not been indexed and photographed? I thought I saw some email about this awhile back. Thanks for all your hard work. As someone who lives out of state I really appreciate your efforts to make research from afar easier. Pat