Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The Bay City Times Sunday, 7 December, 1952 Workmen's Spades Turn Up Drama of Dead During Cemetery Vacating A quiet drama of the dead was turned up by the spades of workmen at the abandoned St. Joseph Catholic cemetery on the West Side, it was dis- closed yesterday. From the scores of unmarked graves came a story of a bereaved husband and father whose foresight more than a half-century ago has saved his wife and son from total oblivion 50 years later. The story was unfolded last month as workmen uncovered the remains of an estimated 900 pioneer Bay Cityans who were interred at the century-old burial ground - long before its records burned, and its headstones were destroyed by fire and the elements. THE CEMETERY is no more. In its place is a still unfinished parking lot that will, by next spring, be able to hold up to 500 cars of members of Visi- tation parish. The cemetery was vacated by circuit court order as a public nuisance. A $20,000 project removed its remains to Kawkawlin's Calvary cemetery, cleared it of trees and jumgle growth, and will by next spring - completely enclose it with a wire-mesh fence. Byt the vacating has given a new lease on "life" to the memories of two early settlers, who would have otherwise languished among the unknown for eternity. THEIR REMAINS were found, almost side by side, in the south-west corner of the big two-block tract. The headstones had long disappeared, and they were destined for an unmarked reburial until workmen found two small bottles near the skeletons. Inside the bottles were small pieces of paper with the scrawling handwriting of a man still legible after 56 years underground. The man, now dead, is presumed to have been NAPOLEON G. LeDUC, and oldtime Bay City cooper, whose home was at 1306 Bradfield street. ONE BRIEF OBITUARY described the person buried in the grave as MRS. PHILIS LeDUC, "a loving mother." It noted that she was born Septemebr (sic) 5, 1841, and died at the age of 54 years on March 13, 1896. It continued that her death was "leaving to monr" her lost husband, NAPOLEON LeDUC, an oldest son, also named NAPOLEON LeDUC, and three other sons, JOSEPH, ALBERT and GUILLAUME (WILLIAM). The other obituary, in the same handwriting, told of the accidental drowning August 10, 1896 - only five months after the death of MRS. LeDUC - of ALBERT R. LeDUC, one of the sons. It noted that ALBERT, born August 17, 1866, left to "morn his loss" his father, NAPOLEON, and three brothers. An ironic footnote may be deduced from a check of old West Bay City directories. LeDUC himself pre- sumably died before 1899 - when his name no longer appears, and it seems probable that his unmarked remains were among those that shall remain forever unidentified. ===============================================================================