1894 Removal of Bodies

Ten years after the new cemetery was formed and bodies were to be removed from the original cemetery, this article appeared in The Fowlerville Review:

The remains of several persons have been removed from the old to the new cemetery this week.

In some of the earlier articles, it was noted headstones were moved before remains, causing a great deal of confusion -- some of that still remaining as of today with multiple remains in the same plot.

But then it would appear more work was needed to be done when later in the news for 1894, I came across the following blurb in the local section:

Rufus Collins, of South Bend, Ind., has been at this place for the past few days attending to the removal of his parents from the old to the new cemetery. Mr. Collins spent his boyhood at this place but hardly knows the place in its present flourishing condition.

And then the village clerk, A.S. Hammil, posted the following notice in the paper:

Give This Your Attention~~All persons having interests in the old cemetery, in the village of Fowlerville, are hereby reminded of the fact that the Common Council of said village, on April 9 last, passed a resolution determining that said old cemetery had become a public nuisance and should be abated and removed, and ordered that all remains should be removed there from on or before the first day of October, 1894. The time for removing the same has now expired yet many remains are yet untouched. All persons interested should see to it that the remains of their friends are taken up and removed without delay as no extension of time, for that purpose, will be granted beyond December first, 1894. By order of the Common Council, A.S. Hammil, Village Clerk

The following year, this notice was posted in the newspaper:

Old Cemetery to be Vacated~~Proceedings are now commenced in the circuit court for vacating the old cemetery in this village, and removing the remaining bodies buried there. The village offers to give the owners of any lot in the old cemetery a lot in Greenwood cemetery, if they will remove the bodies buried there and deed the lot in the old cemetery to the village. If the friends of deceased persons now remaining buried in the old cemetery will avail themselves of this offer, they can have any lot of their choice in Greenwood cemetery. If they do not, the village will remove the remains, and reinter them on lots selected by the trustees of Greenwood cemetery. Those interested should at once avail themselves of this offer and reinter the remains of their friends on lots of their own choice and not leave to be removed by the hands of strangers hired for that purpose, and reinterred in places selected by officials.