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Byron Cemetery
The Byron Cemetery is located on the southeastern edge of the village at
Hamilton and Water Streets on the Byron millpond. The approximately six
acres of gently sloping hills are characteristic of a rural,
Victorian-era cemetery both in terms of its landscape and grave markers.
It is a perpetual care lawn cemetery. There are over twenty-seven
hundred graves with approximately six hundred dating to the 19th
century.
 The
first burial dates to March 17, 1837 with the death of Theodore H.
Prevost, son of Francis Prevost, a member of the Byron Company. A Quit
Claim Deed in 1873, between Sidney Derby and Theo Barnum conveyed it to
be used for a burying ground. Before that, deed books commonly make
reference to it as the “burying ground” in descriptions of adjacent
properties. In 1898, the Byron “Cemetery association was established at
a meeting at the Opera House and the burying ground was then deeded to
the association. In 1916, the perpetual care system was adopted. The
entire cemetery was deeded to the village of Byron in three separate
actions, dating 1916, 1944 and 1954 and the Cemetery Board of the
village gained control of the entire cemetery. Fifty-six known Civil War
burials and many others from other wars are buried there, as well as
many Byron area notable persons and pioneers. There are monuments of
fieldstone, obelisks, rolls, pedestals holding urns, simple tablets with
the iconography being predominately Christian. The grave of
Ellen May Tower is marked with a beautiful
monument and statuary. A large pedestal monument with crossed rifles
commemorating the unknown soldier of the Civil War was dedicated in
1910. On February 19, 1996, the Michigan Historical Commission approved
a Michigan Historical Marker for the cemetery and designated it as
Michigan Historic Site No. L1960. It has been installed by the Hamilton
Street gate and was dedicated during the 175th Jubilee on Sunday, July
11th, 1999.
Dedication Cemetery Michigan Historical Marker July 11,
1999
L-R Merton Wing, Shiawassee County Historical Society,
Sharon Granger, Byron Cemetery Board, Burns Twp Clerk,
Gordon Green, President Village of Byron, Dr.
Mark Miller, Superintendent Byron High Schools, Mark
Murray, Michigan State Treasure, Michigan Historical Commission,
Mike Rogers, Michigan State Senator, 26th District,
Larry Julian, Michigan State Representative 85th District,
Gerald Cole, Shiawassee County Commissioner, District 6 |
