Officials hope to put graveyard on historic site list

"There is a lot of history here," cemetery superintendent Steve Adams said. "It was interesting to find out what was out here. When I was looking it up, I kept getting drawn into what else was going on at the time."

Adams and others affiliated with the East Siena Heights Drive cemetery, acquired by the city in 1945, spent about four months compiling its history. The documents are in the hands of the Michigan Historical Commission, an arm of the Michigan Department of State, which will determine whether the cemetery qualifies for historical designation.

Adams said he hopes to learn by the cemetery’s Saturday anniversary whether he will be able to erect a historical marker at the site.

The cemetery was founded July 18, 1848, by the Oakwood Cemetery Association. The founders, joint owners of the original 22 acres, were Abel Whitney, Langford G. Berry, Henry Hart, Edward Winans, Francis R. Stebbins, Abner Barnard and Amos Bigelow. Adams said all but one of the association's founders are buried at Oakwood.

Just weeks after the cemetery was dedicated, the first burial was held. Oscar Augustus Stevens, the 5-year-old nephew of Whitney, was buried Aug. 1, 1848, in his uncle's burial plot. The youngster attended the dedication ceremony and the cemetery’s history book records him as saying, "This is such a handsome place, I should like to live here all the time."

Since then more than 18,200 people have been buried at Oakwood Cemetery, which has grown to 120 acres. Adams said only 70 acres are developed and the cemetery is expected to serve Adrian through 2075.

Among those buried at Oakwood Cemetery are two former state governors. Charles Miller Croswell, Michigan’s governor from 1877 to 1881, was buried Dec. 16, 1886. William L. Greenly, who served as the state’s lieutenant governor and acting governor from 1847 to 1848, was buried Dec. 2, 1883.

While researching the cemetery's history, Adams also learned about Rachel Sightler. Sightler is believed to be the first freed slave to be buried at Oakwood. Originally purchased as a slave in 1806, Sightler was freed on Dec. 2, 1856, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery on Jan. 10, 1871.

Victims of a Nov. 27, 1901, accident involving two Wabash Railroad trains near Seneca also are buried at Oakwood Cemetery. Adams said cemetery records do not show how many of the accident victims are buried in the cemetery because the accident’s fire left them unrecognizable.

Adams can point out where many of the area's war veterans are buried, including the grave of a black general who fought in the Civil War. Adams also knows the name of the first person – C.G.L. Sweet – to be temporarily interred in the cemetery's receiving vault.

The receiving vault was constructed In 1881 and gave cemetery workers a method of holding the bodies of deceased people during the winter months when it was difficult to dig graves, Adams said.

The receiving vaunt is one of several historic structures at Oakwood Cemetery. Others are the office building, a stone structure once known as the lavatory and constructed in 1908, and the front entrance.

The office building was a gift from Dr. Harry Hull, who left the cemetery association $3,000 when he died in 1905. The building was designed by architects with C.F. Mathes and Son of Adrian.

The front entrance was a gift to the cemetery association in memory of George A. Wilcox. The $5,000 donation was made by his wife, who died in 1897. The columns were erected in 1901.

While Adams finds the historical aspect of Oakwood Cemetery interesting, he hopes his interest will catch on.

"We hope by next year to have a walking tour of the cemetery," Adams said. "We hope to be able to point out all the historical aspects of the cemetery."

With acres of graves and thousands of records, Oakwood Cemetery is also a favorite place for those doing genealogy research.

"It is nothing to have people come in with 30 or 40 names to check," Adams said. "We do it as a service and don’t charge people. There are so many requests we can hardly keep up with it."

To meet that need, cemetery staff is putting all of the records into a database and Adams hopes to make it available via the Internet.

Adams and his staff were aided in their records search by Dee O’Brien of Tecumseh, who volunteered to organize cemetery records over a three-month period.

1.  Adrian (Mich.) The Daily Telegram,  16 July 1998,  p. A1.

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