Walking Among My Ancestors

My ancestors are long-time residents of the Detroit area. In fact, one of my ancestors came to Detroit with Cadillac when it was first settled in 1701. Many of the descendants of the original Detroit settlers later moved to what we refer to as the downriver area and were among the first settlers of Ecorse, Allen Park, and Lincoln Park.

The St. Francis Xavier cemetery in Ecorse is hidden away in a neighborhood. Sadly it has been neglected and many of the tombstones are damaged, but I heard that some of my ancestors were buried there so I decided to take pictures and document any of their stones before they got even more damaged.

This is my great-grandfather Samuel's marker. My mother told me that he was one of the last people who had his wake at home instead of going to a funeral parlor, which was becoming a new trend at the time.

This is Samuel's father, Abraham. He is my great-great grandfather.

And this is the marker for my great-great-great-grandfather Pierre, who died in 1882. He was French and always went by Pierre, but the English version of his name was put on his marker. It was sad to see that the cross from the top of his marker had broken and was laying on the ground.

On the other side of the cemetery and under a tree I found this marker. It was quite a find because it listed my great-great-grandfather's brother, his wife, and the names for two generations of their descendants on the four sides of the marker.

I really love old cemeteries. They have so much more character than the more modern ones with their flat markers. And walking around and looking at the names you just never know who you may find.