Tombstone Tuesday--Troy Cemetery

 Troy Cemetery is, surprisingly enough, located in Troy Township, in the northwest corner of Newaygo county.  It is near the southern edge of the township, on a fairly well traveled, paved road in rural central Michigan.  It is near a portion of Manistee National Forest, as is a good share of the county.  Over half of Troy township is part of the national forest.

A fairly good sized cemetery, with a variety of new and old style stones.  If you look close, you can see modern granite stones as well as the obelisk shaped stones.  Our transcript has a hand-drawn map, showing that the drive is a semicircular one, through the cemetery and back out onto 13 Mile road

 An impressive large stone for the Basford family.  Only two names listed here, although we have another sone for the Basfords.  This one lists Lorissa J, March 8 1898 to 1900, and Minnie Myrtle October 25 1895 to 1916.  We also have a picure of a stone for Lourissa Basford, daughter of L & J, with the dates 1899 to 1900.  The same child listed on two stones?  Perhaps cousins, since their lives overlapped enough to (hopefully) prevent them from being sisters.

 

 I love this old stone.  Apparently handmade from cement framed neatly into a rectangle, Henry L. carved, slightly off center.  I am unable to find a last name for him.  Our transcript shows him in an 8 grave plot with two other families, Ammerman and Wilkinson.  He is the only one listed with no first name.

Several areas in the cemetery show a cement bordered plot.  The above picture shows a plot, with the corners marked by the small obelisk shaped stones.  Three of them appear to have holes for ropes or  chains.  The fourth one would have the holes on the sides hidden from the camera.  I haven't seen this kind of border for family plots in many of our county cemetery pictures. That I can recall at least.

I was intrigued by this simple wooden cross for George W Wolgomott.  I was even more impressed when I saw the reverse side of the cross.  It says Civil war vet.  Obvoiusly someone has been making sure his grave is marked by more that the flag holder.

My pet peeve again.  Lilacs grow up!!!  Don't plant them tight to the stones.  Our pictures show several different stones buried in lilac bushes.  This one shows a base in the bush and it appears the top of the stone is leaning against another nearby.

A large monument for the Yates family, flanked by the stones for Alonzo (1842-1915) and Louise (1852-1929).  Here the more typical cement border is clearly shown outlining the plot.

This old weathered building stands outside one boundary of the cemetery.  A couple older stones, and an obelisk monument stand quietly in this slightly overgrown corner.  It almost reminds me, with the nearby shed, of an old family cemetery on some family homestead.
How many of those old graves were there at one time, that are now forgotten all together?  At least here in Troy Cemetery, they are remembered and maintained.