The City of Detroit, 1701 -1922, Volume 4 by Clarence Monroe Burton

Author:Clarence Monroe Burton [Burton, Clarence Monroe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2017-11-08T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER LIV. CEMETERIES OF DETROIT

The first burial ground in Detroit was located behind and adjoining the little log church of Ste. Anne which was near the northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. Ste. Anne Street, which was about twenty feet wide at this place, and from ten to fifteen feet wide in other places, was located within the lines of the present Jefferson Avenue, and the church building, or the front part of it, and a portion of the graveyard, were within the lines of the avenue as they are now laid down. The lands occupied by the church extended northwardly to about the location of Larned Street. This was two blocks in depth of the old village. There was another lot on the east side of the church and then came the easterly picket line of the village. The church was upon a large lot in which the families of the village were buried. Some time ago bodies were dug up from the middle of Jefferson Avenue, near the site of the old church. They were in that part of the old cemetery which was included in the avenue and were overlooked or missed in the excavation and removals made in 1817. Most all of the burials were made in this ground, around the church, from 1701 to 1760. During that time the place was under the French Government and the inhabitants were exclusively Catholic.

In 1760, Detroit changed to British control and the new people were mostly Protestants or non-Catholics. A new cemetery was opened near the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Larned Street for the English inhabitants, and the Catholics took another piece of land between this and Griswold Street. None of the streets named were opened at that time, but the streets are called by their present names so that one can tell the approximate location. There were some burials of English people in the government garden sought of Ste. Anne Street near the eastern picket line, that is about the location of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company building, on the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. Jehu Hay, the last British governor who lived in Detroit, was buried in this spot, and the remains of other persons have been found there. Additional ground, of about one acre, was given to the Prostestants by order of the military department in 1797. This was on the northeast corner of Woodward Avenue and Larned Street, an enlargement of the old cemetery. Additional lands were also given the Catholics in what is now Congress Street east of Bates.

The records of the Ste. Anne Church contain the following entry of October 7, 1798:

"At an assembly of the older men of this parish called during the prone of the mass, monsieur the curé informed those present that Colonel Strong had offered one arpent of land for cemetery uses, conditioned that four persons accept it and that the trustees will make the necessary appropriation for the necessary work. The land is of the public domain.

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