This is a photograph of a receipt for Dennis Shields who purchased a burial plot at the St. Joseph Catholic Church, Cemetery, known as the Howell Catholic Cemetery, 1898. Dennis Shields, attorney, Howell, Michigan, died August 28, 1898. He is now buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Howell, which was established in 1914. The date of purchase of this cemetery plot is September 1, 1898.
According to the book, "Mt Olivet Cemetery Tombstone Transcriptions", August 1992, published by the Livingston County Genealogical Society, the first Catholic Cemetery in Howell was established March 14, 1891 when the Howell Catholic Cemetery Association purchased a 4.25 acre parcel of land from Charles E. and Katherine Itsell of Genoa township for the cost of $250. The parcel was located on the west side of Chilson Road (formerly known as Ann Arbor Road), 600 feet south of the Old Grand River Road in section six of Genoa township.
The LCGS did not find the names of the individuals interred in the present (1992) church records. They concluded that sometime around 1900, remains were re-interred in other cemeteries although there are no know records or plats of the old cemetery and no history of removal and re-interment of those remains. Later, the land was sold to several private individuals for home sites, and homes are located there now.
View Livingston Republican August 31, 1898 Article (In Library Use Only)
