Egelston Cemetery
Also known as Chatterson Cemetery
Egelston Township serves as caretaker for Egelston Cemetery.
Egelston Cemetery
2000 S. Wolf Lake Rd.
Muskegon, MI 49442
Egelston Township, Michigan
Sec 21, T10N, R15W
History
The town of Egelston is bounded on the north by Cedar Creek, on the east by Moorland, on the south by Fruitport, and on the west by Muskegon, from which it was set apart at the first meeting of the County Board of Supervisors, after separation from Ottawa on July 18, 1859. The first meeting was held at the house of William Sturdefant, who was one of the petitioners. Adna Egelston, an early surveyor, in honor of whom the town was named, was the first Supervisor and was elected continuously every year until 1873, a period of over thirteen years, when David R. Jones took his place. Others elected to the post were E. R. Porter, W. Carr, and A. Durdy.
Other early officials were Alanson Rice, Joh Little, John Parkhurst, Aaron Eakright and Rederick Delano. The land was mostly swampy and the population was sparse. In 1860 there were but 29 people in the town, by 1864 the number had increased to 153. By 1874 it had risen to 317 but by 1880 had dropped to 218. This is accounted for by the fact that Egelston was at that time a great lumbering region and that it later was largely denuded of its timber and had to rely on agriculture.
There were few schools and most of those in the eastern part. They were in Section 11, Section 22, and Section 36. E.R. Jones, probably the oldest settler, came to Section 36 in 1853.
A village lot was laid out and named Almer, on Section 33, near the present cemetery. It was on land belonging to J. Scott and A. Cummings. It was near the head of Black Creek, whose branches, the Little Black Creek and the Cranberry, water the southwest of the town. Nothing is left of the community of Almer, but it was still on the map of 1900.
(Research by Evelyn Buckingham from History of Muskegon County)
For photos see www.findagrave.com.
List updated 2014.