All around the countryside in Michigan are little, family cemeteries. Many have been overgrown and are forgotten. That was true of the Fouch Cemetery in Leelanau County until 2010, when John Sawyer, a retired Traverse City Light & Power maintenance employee, was driving on Fouch Road and noticed an American flag along the side of the road. Upon investigating, he realized the flag marked the grave of John Beatty (“J.B.”) Thacker, a Civil War veteran. Next to Thacker’s grave was that of his wife, Emily Fouch Thacker, who died in late 1868. Sawyer determined to restore the cemetery and set about doing that with the assistance of some local businesses. The whole story is retold here, in the Traverse City Record Eagle
I stopped briefly at the cemetery the other day and took a few photos. The 50-by-100 foot cemetery is home to seven graves:
- Fouch, Hanerah, b. May 07, 1878, d. Aug 30, 1893
- Fouch, William, b. Mar 28, 1870, d. Dec 25, 1890
- Fox, George, b. Sep 05, 1854, d. Sep 14, 1942
- Fox, Mary, b. Oct 05, 1859, d. Oct 08, 1933
- Fox, William H., b. Jul 30, 1894, d. Feb 03, 1919
- Thacker, Emily Fouch, b. Oct 31, 1838, d. Dec 02, 1869
- Thacker, John Beatty, b. Mar 29, 1824, d. Mar 13, 1893
