Royal Oak Township Cemetery / Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery

Royal Oak Township Cemetery, also, Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery. . , Royal Oak Township Cemetery , In 1826 Daniel Burrows donated land for use as a cemetery. The first burial was the infant daughter of Laura Swift Chase and David Chase, who later served as township supervisor and a delegate to the "Convention of Assent" for Michigan statehood. In 1857 it was taken over by the Royal Oak Township Board of Health. The cemetery contains the remains of veterans of all U.S. wars from the American Revolution through the Vietnam War as well as pioneers and prominent citizens. A boulder in Section J gives the names of township residents who died in the Civil War and World War I. Integrated since the beginning, this cemetery has been owned and maintained by the city of Royal Oak since 1921. , , Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery , Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery was established in 1875 and consecrated by Bishop Caspar Henry Borgess that year. The land for the cemetery was purchased from Royal Oak Township. One of the earliest burials was for Edmund Loughnane (Lockman), who had hosted Catholic meetings in his home. Unusual statuary includes a concrete tree trunk and a seated maiden holding flowers. The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located atop Saint Mary High School beginning in 1925, was moved here in 1992. This cemetery contains the remains of a number of local businessmen, among them undertaker William Sullivan, and John and Frank Fraquelli, founders of Royal Oak Monumental Works, whose markers are located here and in the Royal Oak Township cemetery.