10/29/2022
165 YEARS AGO - DEDICATION OF GLENWOOD CEMETERY
In 1857, the founders of the Glenwood Cemetery Association planned for a solemn dedication ceremony. Plans were shared in the Saturday, October 24, 1857 edition of the 'Wolverine Citizen' as follows:
"THE WOLVERINE CITIZEN - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1857.
DEDICATION OF GLENWOOD CEMETERY
The attention bestowed upon the last earthly resting place of the dead, has always loomed up in the past history of nations as one of the landmarks of civilization. The catacombs and pyramids of the palmy days of Egypt, have survived her cities of the hundred gates, her porphyry palaces, and every other monument of her ancient greatness. The rights of cremation practiced by the highly polished Greeks was but the purification by fire of the remains of beloved friends and relatives, that their sacred ashes might be in-urned with the greater honor, and preserved in an undecaying shape. And so has it always been. We can recognize the backward step taken in the care of the dead, during what are called the “dark ages” in the history of Europe, in the practice which became general, of burying in small enclosures attached to the houses of worship, and hence called “Church Yards”, most generally situated in the midst of populous towns and cities, where the coffins would be huddled together, without regard to order, preservation, or public health. But, as an evidence of the progress of modern civilization in the old world, this practice within our own memory, is passing into disuse. Every district now has its ornamental cemetery where a decent respect can be shown by all to the remains of departed humanity.
In America, the practice is prevalent of choosing some retired and eligibly situated spot of ground, where the children of the earth may sleep, at “home in their Mother's bosom, when the battle of life is over”; and where the friends of the deceased may ornament the tombs of the slumbers, and commune with their memories undisturbed except by the voices of nature herself.
The time has arrived in the progress of Genesee County, when the increase of her settlement and population, calls for such a retreat from the world cares. The selection of a romantically diversified tract of land, comprising about thirty acres on the banks of the Flint River, of great natural beauty, enhanced by all the taste of art, has been made for a cemetery; the grounds have been for some time back undergoing preparation; and on Wednesday next they are to be dedicated to their sacred and solemn use by a series of exercises, of which the following is the program:
GLENWOOD CEMETERY
THE DEDICATION OF THIS CEMETERY WILL TAKE PLACE ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH,
At 10:00 o'clock, AM, when the following order of exercises will take place.
PRAYER,
By the Reverend J. S. Goodman
HYMN, “Before Jehovah's Awful Throne”, by the congregation
ADDRESS, By the Right Reverend S. A. McCoskry, D. D.
POEM, By the Reverend H. H. Northrop
BENEDICTION, By the Reverend William blades
Immediately succeeding the dedication the lot will be
Offered for public sale. The citizens of several Towns
in the county are respectfully invited to attend.
Benjamin Pearson, president.
Leonard Wesson, secretary.
Flint, October 17th, 1857."
