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History of Bay County Michigan
pub. H. R. Page & Co., Chicago - 1883

         [p. 187]

         St. Joseph's Cemetery belongs to the Catholic society, and
       is situated near Oak Ridge. It was purchased of Mr. B. B. Hart,
       and has received that careful attention for which Catholic
       societies  are noted.

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         The Monroe & Leaman 1916 Atlas of Bay County, Michigan, on page
       38, shows the "Catholic Cemetery" situated on the east side of
       State street, and extending two for two blocks between Smith street
       and Elm street.

         Little is known of the origins of this cemetery, even though it
       was the final resting place for some of the city's first pioneers,
       It seems the cemetery ceased new burials sometime shortly after
       1925, and by 1952, when vacated, it was overgrown with brush and
       the ground littered with the broken remains of tombstones. The low
       cement block wall which at one time surrounded the cemetery was
       crumbling and spilled down in places.

         The 1905 City Directory cites that St. Joseph Cemetery  was under
       the control of a Catholic cemetery board and lists Frank X. Thibault
       as sexton, but diocesan records show nothing of the cemetery plots
       or who was buried there This matter was brought up during a meet-
       ing on May 1, 1952, when the Rt. Rev. Msgr. John J. Sonefeld, dio-
       cesan vicar-general, cited the difficulty of locating specific graves
       because of the loss of the original records and the neglected con-
       dition of the cemetery. There was no explanation of how or why
       St. Joseph's was allowed to deteriorate into such a deplorable
       condition.

         Abandonment and the removal of graves was protested by Mr. C. B.
       Trombley, a garage owner in Saginaw, and ancestor of Joseph Trombley,
       who founded Banks in 1851. He asserted that a special deed was on
       record in the Bay county register of deeds office that proved his
       claim that his grandfather, Joseph Trombley, had reserved a small
       section of land for a family burial plot when he gave a part of the
       cemetery to the church. An exhaustive search failed to locate the
       document. The Trombley graves were removed to Oak Ridge cemetery.
       Relatives who desired removal to a cemetery other than Calvary at
       Kawkawlin had to do so at their own expense.

         Regardless of protest, the removal of graves was begun in April,
       1952, with Calvary cemetery at Kawkawlin designated by the diocese
       as the general reinterment grounds. On proposal relatives would be
       allowed to remove remains where graves were indentifiable. This
       would be followed by large-scale excavations and the reinterment
       of the remains of unknown persons in a common plot at the Cal-
       vary cemetery.


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