Michigan Cemetery Records Research Guide

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Learn More than You May Expect

Research In Michigan Cemetery Records

Famous People Buried in Michigan Cemeteries

Michigan Cemeteries

Michigan Cemeteries & Graveyards Links

Michigan cemetery records are often used by genealogists when they are researching family history for others. Why bother paying an intermediary to do all the work, when you can access Michigan cemetery records yourself and do your own research?

You are probably going to be required to pay a small fee to get copies of most Michigan cemetery records, but it is still a lot less than paying someone else, who will add the extra fees to their bills.

You can save a lot of money by doing your own family tree research, and you will find that when you have documents such as Michigan cemetery records, it is a fun project that you will really get into.

Michigan Cemetery and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. For Definitions of all Cemetery Terms See Symbols on Gravestones and Their Interpretations

Learn More than You May Expect

Many people think that the only thing they are going to learn from Michigan cemetery records is when a person died. Actually, these records contain a lot more information that you need to have in order to have truly accurate family trees.

Michigan cemetery records can tell you a lot about a person, including:

How old they were when they died
Where they lived when they died
The hospital where they died
The attending physician at the time of death (this is not always available)
The name of the person’s spouse
The names of the person’s next of kin
The names of the person’s parents and siblings (this is not always available)

The more information you can get, the better you will be able to do research and have a complete family tree when you are all finished. Using Michigan cemetery records is a great way to get a lot of the information you are going to need.

Of course, you cannot just stop with the Michigan cemetery records. There are many other documents that will be important for your research, including birth records, marriage records, census records and more.

The days of having to hire a professional genealogist to do your family tree are long gone. With so many websites on the subject, as well as books and other literature, it is easy for anyone to be able to access

Michigan cemetery records and other documents, and create their own family trees that they can leave for future generations to add to.

Research In Michigan Cemetery Records

There are more than 1,000 books full of published and transcribed Michigan tombstone listings located in the Burton Historical Collection and at the Library of Michigan.

The Michigan Cemetery Compendium (Spring Arbor, Mich.: HAR-AL, 1979) lists the majority of the state’s cemeteries and their locations, if in-person research is required.

Famous People Buried in Michigan Cemeteries

County	Name / Date / Cemetery	Description
Calhoun	Truth, Sojourner 12/1/1904 – 11/26/1883 Oak Hill Cemetery	Abolitionist and Social Reformer. In 1828, she successfully fought a legal battle to regain custody of her son, becoming the first black woman to win a lawsuit against a white man.
Chippewa	Edmund Fitzgerald Shipwreck Memorial – Great Lakes Shipwrecks Museum	Great lakes Freighter Disaster. On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with her entire crew of 29 men on Lake Superior, 17 miles from Whitefish Point, Michigan.
Chippewa	Pitre, Didier ‘Cannonball’ 9/1/1883 – 7/29/1934 Riverside Cemetery	Hall of Fame Professional Hockey Player. He played for the teams, Montreal Nationals (1903 to 1905), Michigan Soo Indians (1904 to 1907), Montreal Shamrocks (1907 to 1908), Edmonton Eskimos (1907 to 1908), Renfrew Millionaires (1908 to 1909), Vancouver Millionaires (1913 to 1914), and the Montreal Canadiens (1909 to 1923).
Ingham	Olds, Ransom Eli 6/3/1864 – 8/26/1950 Mount Hope Cemetery	American inventor and automotive pioneer, best known as the founder of the car company that became Oldsmobile Motor Division of General Motors Corporation (GM). He was born Ransom Eli Olds on June 3, 1864, in Geneva, Ohio, the younger of two sons of Pliny Fisk Olds and Sarah Whipple Olds.
Kalamazoo	King Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park	Memorial monument erected in the memory of Dr King.
Kent	Ford (Bloomer), Betty (Elizabeth Ann) 4/8/1918 – 7/8/2011 Gerald R. Ford Museum	US Presidential First Lady. Wife of 38th President Gerald R.
Kent	Ford (King, Jr. ), Gerald (Leslie Lynch) Rudolph 7/14/1913 – 12/26/2006 Gerald R. Ford Museum	38th United States President. Born as Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
Kent	York, Dick 9/4/1928 – 2/20/1992 Plainfield Cemetery	Actor, most remembered for his role as Darrin Stephens, the often-frustrated husband of Elizabeth Montgomery, in the Television sitcom series, Bewitched. Born Richard Allen York in Fort Wayne, Indiana on 4 September 1928, he quickly found work in the entertainment industry.
Wayne	Clarke, Tony 4/13/1940 – 8/28/1971 United Memorial Gardens	Singer, Songwriter, Producer. Born Ralph Williams, he wrote for many legendary artists, including Etta James’ “Two Sides to Every Story” and “Pushover” and David Ruffin’s early hit song “Mr.
Wayne	Ford, Henry 7/30/1863 – 4/7/1947 Ford Cemetery	Pioneer IndustrialiSt. Founder of the Ford Motor Company.
Wayne	Jackson, Michael 8/29/1958 – 6/25/2009 Woodlawn Cemetery	Musician, Entertainer. He was called the “King of Pop,” and is best remembered for his revolutionary videos such as “Thriller” (1982), and “Dangerous” (1991), as well as two Guinness World Records: Most successful entertainer of all time (with 13 Grammy Awards, 13 Number One single hits in a solo career, and sales of over 750 million in albums worldwide), and for having the greatest selling album of all time (“Thriller”).
Wayne	Parks (McCauley), Rosa (Rosa Louise) 2/4/1913 – 10/24/2005 Woodlawn Cemetery	Civil Rights Pioneer and Social ActiviSt. An African-American working woman, she became most famous for her refusal in 1955 to give up a bus seat to a white man who was getting on the bus, an incident that led to her arrest and inspired Dr.
Wayne	Peppard, George 10/1/1928 – 5/8/1994 Northview Cemetery	Actor, he is best remembered for his breakthrough role of Paul “Fred” Varjak in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), and for his role of Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith in the television series “The A-Team” (1983-1986). Born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of opera singer and building contractor Vernelle Rohrer.
Wayne	Ruffin, David 1/18/1941 – 6/1/1991 Woodlawn Cemetery	R & B singer and lead for the famed Motown group The Temptations. David Ruffin could not capitalize on his first solo singles for various labels, so he shared his private pain in the Temptations’ biggest hits.
Wayne	Stubbs, Levi 6/6/1936 – 10/17/2008 Woodlawn Cemetery	Singer. He was the lead vocalist of the legendary musical Motown group The Four Tops.
Wayne	War Memorial – Woodmere Cemetery	Erected by the Veteran’s Association, the monument is dedicated to the memory of the soldiers of 19th US Infantry and other regiments who served in the Civil War.
Wayne	Wilson, Jackie (Jack Leroy) 6/9/1934 – 1/21/1984 Westlawn Cemetery	Singer. Born Jack Leroy Wilson in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of Jack and Eliza Wilson from Columbus, Mississippi.

Michigan Cemeteries

Cemetery Name	Cemetery City
Mount Joy Cemetery	Alcona
Forest Hill Cemetery	Ann Arbor
Fort Custer National Cemetery	Augusta
Roseland Park Cemetery	Berkley
St. Clements Cemetery	Center Line
St. John’s Catholic Cemetery	Claybanks Township
Resurrection Cemetery	Clinton Township
Pine Tree Cemetery	Corunna
St. Hedwig Cemetery	Dearborn Heights
Elmwood Cemetery	Detroit
Holy Cross Cemetery	Detroit
Mount Elliott Cemetery	Detroit
Mount Olivet Cemetery	Detroit
Woodlawn Cemetery	Detroit
Machpelah Cemetery	Ferndale
Michigan Memorial Cemetery	Flat Rock
Great Lakes National Cemetery	Holly
Maple Ridge Cemetery	Holt
Glen Eden Lutheran Memorial Park	Livonia
Eden Cemetery	Mason
Hawley Cemetery	Mason
Leek Cemetery	Mason
Maple Grove Cemetery	Mason
Pine Grove Cemetery	Millington – Kayla Rolland
Evergreen Cemetery	Muskegon
Lakeside Cemetery	Muskegon
Oakwood Cemetery	Muskegon
Restlawn Cemetery	Muskegon
Mona View Cemetery	Muskegon Heights
Knapp Cemetery	Northville
Rural Hill Cemetery	Northville
Thayer Cemetery	Northville
Waterford Cemetery	Northville
Yerkes Cemetery	Northville
Norton Cemetery	Norton Shores
Guardian Angel Cemetery	Oakland Township
Lakeside Cemetery	Port Huron
Oakview Cemetery & Mausoleum	Royal Oak
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery	Southfield
White Chapel Cemetery	Troy
Detroit Memorial Park East	Warren
All Saints Cemetery	Waterford Township
William Ganong Cemetery	Westland
Mount Carmel Cemetery	Wyandotte