SQ – A Pioneer Family circa 1830 Traditional Geocache

This cache is located at the site of a very small cemetery in West Bloomfield.  Although the fenced grave enclosure is open to the public, I’ve elected to hide this cache just outside of it (but still on cemetery property) out of respect for the landscaping and wildflowers.

Please be respectful of your surroundings.  Although it’s not posted, most Michigan cemeteries do not allow admittance after dusk.

The Hosner Cemetery is a small cemetery tucked just off Farmington Road.  The Hosner Family dedicated this cemetery in the 1830’s.  It was rededicated by West Bloomfield Township in 1999.

Only seven people were buried in the cemetery, which measures just 7 feet by 10 feet. The cemetery was started by the Hosner family, early settlers in the area 20 miles northwest of Detroit. Family patriarch Jacob Hosner Sr. was born in the 1700s and died in 1835. His original headstone, and the others, have disappeared.

According to the neighbor, Bernadine Pepple (as reported in the Argus Press),  "They were the first people ever to purchase land in Oakland County," she said. "The first settlers." Bernadine is seeking a historic status for this cemetery to prevent developers from building in the lot to the North.

Inscribed on the main headstone:

Jacob Hosner Sr. Died March 3, 1835 aged 63 years

Lucinda, died Feb 3, 1838 aged 6 years

Isenath Jr. died about 1840

Infant son of Thomas and Hannah Hosner

Alfred, died Feb. 25, 1838, aged 2 years 5 months

Erastus, died Nove 26, 1842 aged 16 years 6 days

Children of Jacob and Asenath Hosner Jr.

In the middle of the two arches it say's "A Pioneer Family 1830"