Birch Lake Cemetery

aka East Cemetery
Section 1 - Calvin Township
Cass County Michigan

Branch	Veteran Flag Holder	Mother	This grouping contributed by: David Defour Larger view? Click on Image
Pointing up to Heaven	Francis A Clark	Hunt tombstone possibly Iantha P Hunt	Rose

Site updated June 19, 2015 - Includes old DAR readings, family donated and tombstone photo info and information from obits and older death certificates.

Directions:  From Brownsville Road, turn North onto James Road. Go about 1/4 to 1/2 mile and then watch on the (Left) West side of the road.
Cemetery is a pretty good size. 
History:    Birch Lake Cemetery -  Located in Section 1 of what was once the James East farm.
The majority of burials in this cemetery are "The Society of Friends"  or Quakers, of whom there was a large settlement, and most of whom were connected to the East family.
And of course the original name of this cemetery was called Friends Cemetery then later East Cemetery and finally Birch Lake Cemetery.
The original cemetery was on the James East land . James donated the land to the community for a burial ground.
The  land connecting to the cemetery was deeded over to his son Calvin K. East as we note in the 1872 Atlas.
And in 1896, the property still remains in the East family name.  The first burial in about 1836 was that of Elihu Osborn.

On Aug 14, 1909 a Large stone with the following inscription was placed in the cemetery. It reads: "In memory of William East born in North Carolina in 1773.
Died in 1864. [and of] Rachel Tolbert East, bron in Virginia in 1780, died in 1851. Erected by their descendants, Aug 14, 1909"

This is a list of the Children of William and Rachel East. Not all of them are buried in the East Cemetery.
Hannah - 1798 to 1891
John 1800 to 1856
Joel 1802 to 1879
James 1804 to 1887
Polly 1807 to 1883
Susanna 1819 to 1848
Jacob 1811 to 1887
Sallie 1814 to 1840
William H 1817 to 1889
Rebecca 1819 to 1886
Martha 1822 to 1884
Ison 1826 to 1888

East/McClellan  - Per the files of Tom Merritt - He states that near the Stone of Ralph McLellan above are;
1. Reta East McLellan (my grandmother), wife of Ralph, daughter of Rollie Mark East and Sarah Margaret Wright East - b. 9 August 1889 - d. 1974
2. Bion Rose East, DDS, son of Rollie Mark East and Sarah Margaret Wright East, b. 12 May 1885, d. ?1972? 
3. Norma Schmidt East, wife of Bion, b. ?, d. ? 
4. Richard Ives East, son of Bion and Norma East, b. ?1920?, LT, USAAF, KIA Tunesia, 1943 
5. Jane East Karkalits, daughter of Bion and Norma East, b. ?1916?, d. ?2002?
6. Robert Walter Merritt (my father), b. 2 Feb 1913, St. Joseph, MI, d. 20 June 2000, Kalamazoo, MI 
7. Nancy McLellan Merritt (my mother), wife of Robert, daughter of Ralph and Reta East McLellan, b. 20 April 1911, Auburn, IN, d. 16 July 2006 Kalamazoo, MI 
8. Phillip Fletcher McLellan, son of Ralph and Reta East McLellan, b. 29 August 1920 Auburn, IN, d. 4 March 2002 Dublin NH 
9. William McElroy Land, son-in-law of Robert and Nancy McLellan Merritt, b. 8 August 1928, d. 5 February 1994

Glover's History of Cass Co, under Levi J Reynolds, says that Levi and Martha had two kids: Austin and Albert. 
The 1860 census for L J Reynolds and his second wife, Sarah A Storey, shows 5 year old Austin in their household.
This is more evidence that Martha died later than 26 Sep 1851. And Austin's grave is next to Levi's & Martha's graves. 
Also, Glover's history said that Levi's second wife, Sarah Storey, had two daughters. The Birch Lake Cemetery shows one of them 
as 11 year old Nellie who died 10 Aug 1866. This indicates that Sarah and Levi married by about 1854. Perhaps wife #1, Martha East, 
died at the birth of Austin in 1854, and Austin died as a boy in the 1860s. Levi Reynolds must have married Sarah Storey very soon 
after Martha East died. The unreadable stone following Martha Reynolds must be Albert, the other son of Levi Reynolds and Martha East.

By Jan 1, 2007, or soon after, I will have the William East & Rachel Talbot biography, and the biographies of their descendants, 
on the East web site. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~eazier1/East/ 
Most of their descendants lived in and around Cass Co from the early 1830s into the 20th Century. ALL East names in Cass Co before 1930 came from this couple.

Samuel Heaton - I am a descendant of Samuel and Mary Heaton who are buried in the Birch Lake Cemetery. Samuel's lineage can be traced back to Christopher Martin who was the treasurer of the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony, ninth signer of the Mayflower Compact, and contemporary of William Bradford (Governor), and Miles Standish. 
My Grandmother, Daisy Pearl (Bradley) Eichorst-Mais inherited Birch Lake property from her father, Charles Wesley Bradley. The name of the cottage is WE-LUV-IT. 
I spent many happy summers at the lake with my grandmother and cousin, Ronald Eichorst. 
Grandmother Daisy is buried in Constantine beside her second husband Otto Mais.  Mark D. Eichorst   at Mark D. Eichorst <Eichorst_Mark_D@cat.com>;

Enos East - Iantha Cordelia Hunt, wife of Enos East, was born at Porter, Cass Co MI on 22 Dec 1846.
She was a dau of Allen T Hunt (1817 OH) and Iantha Permelia Bellow (1821 NY), and died at Three Rivers,
St Joseph Co on 22 August 1928. Iantha and Enos married at Vandalia, Cass Co on 14 Feb 1864.
They had no children. Enos East, son of Joel East and Sarah Bulla, was born 22 Oct 1839 in Cass Co and died there on 19 Mar 1905. They had no children.