Michigan Spirit Quest #35 - "Wild Cherry" Traditional Cache

The Michigan Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by MICHIGAN Pioneers. This series is inspired by and is a continuation of the Indiana Spirit Quest caches created by SixDogTeam. In just over four years, the SPIRIT QUEST has grown to over seven hundred caches and the hiders have grown to fifty cacher teams in 5 states and one province, most of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Over 1,000 cachers have logged over 20,000 finds. One cache machine found 102 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

(Photos by TeamMina)

WELCOME TO WILD CHERRY CEMETERY


A BRIEF HISTORY OF RANSOM TOWNSHIP
HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN

On March 8,1836 the first white settler Rowland Bird arrived in the area. He brought along his wife and seven children and a workman named Leander Candee, On January 28, 1840 the Township was named "Roland" in honor of its first settler. On March 9th. 1848 the Township was renamed "Ransom" due to the influence of "certain parties" living in the Township. Who these people were has been lost in time but the residents of the Township believed the pioneer of the Township should be honored so on April 2, 1849 the name was changed to "Bird Township". The name "Ransom" was officially and finally adopted March 28, 1850.

When Ransom was first settled, nearly its entire area was covered with a dense growth of timber, the only exception, a small portion in the north which was a natural opening. Most of the land in Ransom was purchased by land speculators before anyone ever settled within its borders, forcing most of the early settlers to purchase their land from these so called "Land Grabbers".

The first child born in the Town was to Mr. & Mrs. James H. Babcock, In the same year, 1839. Sad occurrances happened within the Bird Family in 1840. Mrs. Candee, a bride of only one month, sickened and died on April 9th. Her youngest sister Eunice Bird, died the same day. On September 18, the Bird's youngest son died and within four days Rowland Bird himself died at age 47 years.

Ransom Township furnished 143 men to serve in The Union Army during the Civil War. Many of which can be found in this cemetery. 40 brave men laid down their greatest offering, their lives in defense of The Union. On the 15th. of April 1861 the first call was given for volunteers to serve the Union cause, James Tarsney of Ransom was the first person to enlist from the Township.

The first Church to be organized in Ransom was that of The First Congregational Church on May 19, 1848, at the home of Caleb Sheperd two and one half miles north of town. The first seven years services were held in one of the school houses until funds could be raised to build a place of worship they could call their own. Their dreams were realized in the summer of 1855 when the church was constructed in Ransom Village.

Thanks very much to the www.hillsdalecounty.info website for this wonderful information!



Wild Cherry Cemetery, once known as Andridge Cemetery, was built on land donated by Francis H. Aldridge in 1872.

If anyone has more information on the history of the cemetery, or the individuals buried here, please let us know. We will happily include it on this page.

The cache container is a camoed flat lock & lock. BYOP. The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground or replace it. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out. Say a prayer for our brave troops, fighting overseas. God Bless America!

MSQ caches are brought to you by the following fellows of GEOMSQ: SixDogTeam (Earthdog Patrick, Lead Dog, Wheel Dog), Wolverine Warriors, The Outcaches, SafariBob & Tweety, PairOMedicChick, Cyclops, Son of Cyclops, The Herd, Menstown1, Ali Kat, Geo's Loulog, MI Chickenlegs, Jagman714 and TeamMina. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck
of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email Wolverine Warriors.

*Grand Exalted Order of the Michigan Spirit Quest*

** THIS IS A GENUINE MICHIGAN SPIRIT QUEST CACHE**