A Visit to Thayer Cemetery (Northville, Michigan)

An Unexpected Stop

If you’ve followed along on my podcast journey then you already know that I’m a sucker for spooky, old graveyards and cemeteries. As I was helping some friends out by delivering chairs for a graduation party in Salem, MI, I noticed a gorgeous looking 1800’s school building with a cemetery in the backdrop. On the way back home from my delivery, I stopped.

While Thayer Cemetery in Northville, MI, is the final resting place for many early settlers, veterans, and community leaders of the area, it is not known for having any widely famous or nationally recognized individuals buried there. The cemetery does hold the remains of veterans, including those who fought in the Civil War and World War II, as well as early township figures.
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Thayer Cemetery is primarily known for the burial sites of the Thayer family, who were early settlers in the area, as well as other prominent figures who significantly contributed to the development of Northville Township.

Below you’ll see some photos that I took, with a little background information on some of the shots.

The Cemetery

Rufus Thayer, Jr. came to Michigan in 1826 after buying land. He was a farmer, born in Vermont, who had been living in New York. After losing his two-year-old son George in 1838, he likely set aside part of his land for a cemetery. George may have been the first person buried there. Some headstones are older, but were likely moved later.

In 1914, the Thayer Cemetery Association formed to take care of the cemetery. At the time, it only included the land behind the old schoolhouse. In 1931, the Association bought more land from the Thayer family to expand the grounds.

Today, about 500 people are buried in Thayer Cemetery. A veterans monument was added on Memorial Day, 2017.

Thayer Schoolhouse

Thayer School was built in 1877 on land bought from Rufus Thayer Jr., the first settler at 6 Mile and Napier. It’s the oldest one-room schoolhouse still on its original site in Northville Township. The school closed in 1952. After that, Thayer’s great-granddaughter bought it and turned it into a home. It stayed a home for 40 years before Arbor Hills Landfill bought it.

In 2011, the Northville Township Board of Trustees created the historic district.

Zephaniah Fletcher

The name Zephaniah is of Hebrew origin and means “God has hidden” or “God hides”. It is primarily a masculine name and is associated with a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, author of the Book of Zephaniah. In researching his name in local papers, it appears that he liked to go by “Zep” which is pretty great. If you’re looking for a baby name, let’s bring this one back.

Susan

Beautiful in its simplicity, I wanted to know more about who this ‘Susan’ was. Unfortunately there are only two Susan’s listed on the Thayer Cemetery historical index and both of those (Rathburn and Van Sickle) have their own headstones.

Baby Margaret

This tiny headstone is adorned with a cat (I believe) and has the letters carved by hand. Whomever she was, she was only with us for a little over a month.

Margaret Doolin
Birth – July 26th, 1949
Death – September 7th, 1949