Evergreen Cemetery

[dtowncitylover]

So I recently discovered my great-great grandmother was buried at Evergreen. I have her grave info card [[from 1929!) from the cemetery. I went down today, camera in hand, and on a whim to see if it was open. It was not. Thinking perhaps Woodlawn was somehow involved with Evergreen, I went over there. They told me they were separate would have to contact them. So I did, and after 2 minutes of ringing, I gave up. I searched on DYes to see if there were any posts or threads, there were not.

Anywho, can anyone tell me the hours for Evergreen? Is it by appt only or something? Perhaps I should have "knocked" at the gates...? If anyone has any history that could be cool two. My gg-grandmother married some six times, so her first husband, my gg-grandfather is buried in Pennsylvania. She came to Michigan to be closer to her daughter, my great-grandmother. She is the only known relative of mine to be buried in a Detroit cemetery.

[Detroitnerd]

Call first and make sure they know you're coming. Lots of cemeteries fix up the grave for you before you come.

[dtowncitylover]

...if they picked up the phone or had a message machine!

[Detroitnerd]

...if they picked up the phone or had a message machine!

I know, I know. I just bring it up because if you don't call ahead, chances are you'll have to bring a shovel to remove the turf from overgrown markers. Most cemeteries will do that for you if they know you're coming. Perhaps irrelevant to this discussion, but FYI.

[Kathleen]

Perhaps they were not open because it is Easter Monday and maybe were shortstaffed. Certainly they are open almost every day as the gates are usually open.

My experience with Evergreen is that they are generally helpful. I have great-grandparents there along with two of their children and spouses [[one set of which are my grandparents). Their graves are marked and nicely maintained.

Another great-grandmother is buried in an unmarked grave. She died in childbirth in 1932 so is buried only with her stillborn child. My great-grandfather went on to marry two more times so is buried elsewehere. And in 1932 the family was dirt poor so there was no money for a headstone. Evergreen was quite helpful in helping locate the grave site.

Good luck!!!

[Ray1936]

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...24&CScnty=1308&

800 of the interments are listed on this site. It's worth a try, and there's a telephone number there also.

[dtowncitylover]

Thanks Kathleen!

And Dnerd, don't worry I wasn't yelling at you, just frustrated that it kept on ringing, as if a message machine is so expensive to buy.

And Ray, I did search, but her name did not come up, however. Thanks, though!

[ct4438]

I'm surprised the hours weren't posted on the gate. I know that Trinity Lutheran Cemetery is closed on Mondays.

[gazhekwe]

This is interesting. I found out recently that my great grandmother, her daughter and daughter's husband [[my grandparents) and maybe one of her brothers are buried there. I was there when we buried my grandmother in the mid-60s, but didn't remember anything about the cemetery. I am planning a spring weather faqmily expedition to find the graves. It will be helpful to find out if the are indeed routinely open.

Drat! None of them come up in the Find a grave site.

[Ray1936]

Gaz, take a camera when you go and photograph the markers, then add them to the Findagrave site for an all time rembrance. Let us know when you post 'em so we can all take a look.

[adamjab19]

When I was directing funerals I only dealt with Evergreen a couple of times. They are still owned by family I believe. Also, during the spring, we would have to wait for burials because they would have flooding issues which may be going on now due to the rain lately. Not that this would shut things down and it doesn't explain the not answering the phones but just a heads up. Good luck!

[Lowell]

It makes sense that a cemetery might choose to close on Monday's as Sunday's and Saturday's are more likely busier days. Staff needs some time off. However, one would think they would have it well posted.

[gazhekwe]

Ray, I will do that. I sure hope Evergreen has their records, I couldn't find anything. All were pre Social Security, Grandpa was self-employed and Grandma never worked outside the home after the kids came along in the 20s. There were no Michigan death records on Ancestry that I could find. I'll have to call my uncle and see if he remembers anything or has any records. Better be quick, he is the last one of that generation.

[jcole]

Try this link to search for death certs in Michigan up to 1920.
http://seekingmichigan.cdmhost.com/s..._utmk=90846106

Ray, I will do that. I sure hope Evergreen has their records, I couldn't find anything. All were pre Social Security, Grandpa was self-employed and Grandma never worked outside the home after the kids came along in the 20s. There were no Michigan death records on Ancestry that I could find. I'll have to call my uncle and see if he remembers anything or has any records. Better be quick, he is the last one of that generation.

[Detroitnerd]

One of the interesting things I learned by visiting my grandparent's burial site was that there was an infant child buried there as well. Their records gave me another listing on my genealogical chart, even if he only lived a few days.

[jcole]

There was a second Evergreen Cemetery on W. Warren.
http://www.interment.net/data/us/mi/...reen/index.htm
And they are both of Findagrave.com.
The one with 79 graves is the one on W. Warren.

[gazhekwe]

Well, there is a conflict between the records available at Find A Grave and unofficial writings of my mother. No record of any of them at either Evergreen Cemetery. I can tell you we never went to any cemetery to visit any graves. All three individuals died in the 1950s-60s so the pre 1930s death records are no help. Guess I could traipse over to Herman Kiefer for the death certs.

[dtowncitylover]

Well, I finally made it today. Just barely too, got there at 3:45, when the gates closed at 4. Spent about half-hour trying to find my great-great grandmother. She is buried somewhere all the way in the back and it was all flooded. So I roamed a bit, trying to find her but couldn't. I think I will come back when the place is dry, with gardening tools to un-bury all the gravestones to find her.

On a cultural note, I noticed there are alot of Armenians and Eastern Europeans buried at Evergreen. Some have both the Latin-ized name and the Cyrillic name or the Armenian script. On a couple the name was only written in Armenian.

[PlymouthRes]

There are a lot of Armenians buried at Evergreen, as there existed only two or three Armenian undetakers in the 20th century in Detroit who did traditional Armenian burial rites.

One was Simon Javazian, who, I believe, had a funeral home on Woodward, directly adjacent to Evergreen, hence the use of that cemetary.

The other was Ed Korkoian, who did most of the burials at Woodmere, because of the proximity to the large Armenian community that existed in Delray.

The other interesting thing that I have observed is that a majority of the burials that took place at Evergreen utilized St. Johns in Southfield, and the burials that took place at Woodmere usually utilized St. Sarkis in Dearborn. Prior to the 1950's, funerals were held at the original Armenian church which was located at Hamilton and Collingwood in Detroit, which would have also lead to many burials at Evergreen.

[gazhekwe]

I'm bumping this up for some more research. We did find my grandparents and great grandmother are buried in Evergreen on Woodward. We got all the gravesite information and spent and afternoon poking around. Funny, once there we could not make head nor tails of the directions we were given. I am going to head over tomorrow if they are open and see if someone can help me. The directions seem very clear, but once you get there, there seems to be no consistent way things are placed. We got Lot 13, Range 8, Grave 6. Could not find any lot 13, so we worked with Section 13, which was not where the woman told me to go, two Sections behind the Mausoleum on the Right. Now, what is Range 8? We decided it must be the Row number, but from the Eastern marker, or the Western Marker? Now Grave 8, did they count from the road or the fence? To top it all off, it appears none of our graves is marked, which I believe my mother told me all those years ago. We need help! We put flowers where we thought my Grandpa and Grandma were. I will see if we were close.

Editing to add: We were not close. We were probably 20 rows off for both of them.

[Ray1936]

Gaz, a dozen years back, I drove to Kansas to find the grave of my great grandfather's brother and family. Got to the cemetery; no one around, and it was huge. Drove and walked around for an hour with no luck. A full bladder shouted distress, so I drove to a far end of the place to do what I had to do. Opened the car door to get out and it 'thunked' against a marker. Looked at it.....and damn, it was Thomas Downing, the great uncle I was looking for. Million to one shot. You never know.

[EastsideAl]

Gaz, a dozen years back, I drove to Kansas to find the grave of my great grandfather's brother and family. Got to the cemetery; no one around, and it was huge. Drove and walked around for an hour with no luck. A full bladder shouted distress, so I drove to a far end of the place to do what I had to do. Opened the car door to get out and it 'thunked' against a marker. Looked at it.....and damn, it was Thomas Downing, the great uncle I was looking for. Million to one shot. You never know.

That's a pretty damn lucky shot there Ray. Every now and again life suddenly surprises you with just what you wanted, but thought you couldn't get.

I had a similar experience to your hunt [[but not your result) a few years ago when I was in Lancaster PA and went looking for my great-grandfather's grave. I knew it was somewhere in what turned out to be the largest cemetery in town, a huge sprawling semi-abandoned, significantly overgrown, and somewhat spooky place with lots of toppled and damaged markers. It was, of course, a fruitless pursuit and we soon gave up and left as a cold rain began, but not before we stumbled upon the somewhat forlorn grave of President James Buchanan.

[dtowncitylover]

Thanks Gaz for bumping this thread. I never did find my great-great grandmother's grave. I should go back soon and look. I drive by often enough to think that I should go, but with rain in the forecast this week, won't be anytime soon...

[gazhekwe]

It is a beautiful park. I was successful today. I went to the office and asked. I got maps to the four graves I was looking for. My grandparents are four rows apart in Section F in the back corner, the other two are in two different sections. A very nice worker helped me. I am still not sure we located Grandpa, but we got pretty close. There is a lot of shrubbery growing along the back wall, and there is a row of graves back there, none marked. The brush will be cleared out this fall.

There is a method to the madness, really, but it takes experience to sort it out. There are Sections with numbers, none actually in strict numerical order. There are Ranges, that means Rows of graves. They count from either the east or west section marker. Then there are Grave numbers, that count from either right to left or vice versa.

The records are on handwritten cards, one to a customer. The woman in the office looked up my relatives named Smith. Lots of Smiths in there. It helps to know the year of interment. She gave me the addresses, Section 13, Range 8, Grave 6. She misdirected me to Section 13, but it was well marked. With that information for all four, we set out on Sunday to find them. We unfortunately could not make head nor tails of the directions or addresses once we got there. But it was a beautiful afternoon in a very pleasant park. Section 13, it turns out, is counted from the eastern marker, 8 rows to the north, then six graves in from the road. Unfortunately my Nanny does not have a marker. But I am confident we found her.

If you have your great-great grandmother's address, I might be able to help you find it now.

I also found this history of Evergreen Cemetery.

http://nighttraintodetroit.com/2013/...reen-cemetery/

[gazhekwe]

Ray, that is hilarious! See, the Creator was really shooting for you to connect with your great uncle.

Here is a picture of my great uncle Trueman's grave that we found today. I had help so did not employ mystic methods.

https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...75&oe=5A1EB3C9