Stony Creek Cemetery

Nathaniel and Sally Millerd sold 1.7 acres of this land in March 1839 to multiple Stony Creek residents with the understanding that it would be "forever used as a public burying ground." Millerd was a prominent settler and community leader in the village of Stony Creek; he had built a gristmill in 1824 and operated a general store and the Stony Creek Post Office out of his home. He also served as Oakland County's second probate judge.

The lot owners in the cemetery organized an association to care for cemetery business in 1861. By the turn of the century, the appointed trustees were all deceased and the affairs of the cemetery were being neglected. In 1909, the cemetery's lot owners met to form a new association to administer the Stony Creek Cemetery. The Detroit Free Press said on March 18, 1909:

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Lot owners of Stoney Creek cemetery, east of Rochester, have set about to form an organization which will hereafter insure the care and maintenance of the cemetery. Interest in the affairs of the association lagged for years until it was finally discovered that all the trustees were dead and there was no organization to care for the property.. Action has now been taken looking to an organization and a first meeting held. Necessary steps will be taken to carry out this plan at a meeting March 20.

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The lot owners ceded control of the cemetery to Stony Creek Masonic Lodge No. 5 in 1924. The Grand Lodge of Michigan deeded the cemetery to the Township of Avon in 1981. A monument erected in 1929 by the Masonic Grand Lodge of Michigan pays tribute to the Stoney Creek Lodge - the only one in Michigan to hold meetings throughout the anti-Masonic fervor that lasted from 1826 to 1844. The Rochester Era reported on June 1, 1928:

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During the afternoon session, Tuesday, May 22, Charles A. Donaldson of Grand Rapids, junior past grand master, chairman of the Stoney Creek Lodge Memorial Committee, recommended that a 'plain bronze tablet bolted to granite rock mark the site where those sturdy Masonic pioneers kept the light of Michigan Masonry burning in Stoney Creek Lodge while others were extinguished.' Mr. Donaldson also proposed that $250 be given annually by the Grand Lodge for perpetual care of the Masonic graves in Stoney Creek cemetery and that members of Zion Lodge No. 1, be honored with supervising this work. The proposals carried unanimously.

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The Grand Lodge dedicated the Masonic monument in Stony Creek Cemetery on May 27, 1929.

Although not formally organized until 1839, Stony Creek Cemetery was the site of burials from the earliest settlement of the village. The first known burial is believed to have been that of Michael Van Wagoner Sr., a Revolutionary War soldier who died in 1824 or 1825. Van Wagoner's exact grave location within the cemetery grounds is unknown, as any marker that might have been placed had long disappeared. Van Wagoner's family placed a new stone within the cemetery in 1978, and his resting place was rededicated by the Oaks Chapter, Michigan Society Sons of the Revolution, in 2007. The Stony Creek Cemetery received a Michigan Historical Marker at the same time.

Ownership of the cemetery was officially deeded to Avon Township (now the City of Rochester Hills) in 1981, although newspaper accounts say that control over the cemetery had been ceded to the township back in 1956. The City of Rochester Hills maintains Stony Creek Cemetery but no longer uses the historic cemetery for burials. Rochester Hills operates the nearby Van Hoosen Jones-Stoney Creek Cemetery, located on land donated in 1956 by the late Dr. Sarah Van Hoosen Jones.

Nathaniel Millerd to Richard Lacy, et al., 8 March 1839, land situated at the corner of sections 1, 2, 11, and 12 in the Township of Avon, with understanding that the land is to be forever used as a public burying ground and for no other use whatsoever, Oakland County Record of Deeds, liber 52, p. 431.

"Lot owners in Stony Creek cemetery are making arrangements...," Rochester Era, March 19, 1909, p.4.

"Will Reorganize Cemetery Association," Detroit Free Press, March 18, 1909, p.10.

"Memorial Voted," Rochester Era, June 1, 1928, p.1.

"Stoney Creek Cemetery Given Township," Rochester Clarion, December 20, 1956, p.1.

"He Preserves Family Roots," Rochester Eccentric, July 6, 1978, p.1A.

Peal, Wayne, and Bob Sklar. "Old burial grounds focus of vandalism," Rochester Eccentric, November 3, 1983, p.3A.

McDonald, Jennifer. "A Tale of Two Honors," Rochester Post, May 16, 2007.

Fey, Charles. History of Freemasonry in Oakland County, Michigan [Royal Oak, Mich.: Royal Oak Lodge No. 464, 1945], p.43.

Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Michigan to Avon Township, 21 September 1981, land in the northeast quarter of section 11 of Avon Township, also being known as Stoney Creek Cemetery, Oakland County Record of Deeds, liber 8083, p.891.