Is This Kalamazoo County’s Smallest Cemetery?
There is a cemetery I have passed by so many times on my way to Battle Creek that has always turned my head. This cemetery seems to be in the middle of nowhere and is one of the smallest ones I've ever seen, and may be the smallest in the county, perhaps, the state. The Howlandsburg Cemetery is on the south side of the road off of G Ave in Augusta, MI and is a very old cemetery which seems to be a complete mystery, since there was very little I could find about it, its origins and history and why that area of all places was chosen.
The tiny cemetery does have a small amount of information, but only in regards to who is buried, and that truly reveals how old the cemetery is. There only seems to be 18 families buried at the cemetery, with the possibility of a few more, as two of the graves are marked as "Unknown" but the majority of the people buried belong to the Howland, Bailey & Russell families.
The earliest burial was for Dewitt Howland who passes away a few weeks shy of his 21st birthday in 1846. The earliest confirmed born at rest here is is James Bailey who was born in 1790. The last burial which seems to have taken place here is J. Van Denburgm, who passed away in 1910.
Knowing so little about this cemetery and many of the birth and passing dates, it's hard to determine just how old it is and when the burials last took place. But any info would be interesting to know for any family member descendants who may still live in the area.