You are cordially invited to join the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County’s IE UK Special Interest Group on its field trip to 196 year-old Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Northfield Township, Washtenaw Co., Michigan!    Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church [est. 1829] is the first English [not French!] speaking church in Michigan—it was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.  In 1828 Washtenaw County’s first Irish pioneer Michael Patrick Stubbs arrived and recruited the first 10-12 Irish families to Northfield. 16 families build the original log cabin chapel, within the present cemetery grounds.  That chapel caused Father Gabriel Richard to send Father Patrick O’Kelly, born Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, to Northfield in 1829.  By 1831 the congregation was at 90 families.  Father Richard stated that Northfield held more Irish Catholics than Detroit. So many Irish Catholics settled in the western part of Northfield that it became known as “New Ireland.”

The Old Section of Old St. Patrick’s Cemetery [earliest burial on FAG 1836] can be divided into 177 plots with 655 known burials.  Not all burials are of pioneers/settlers and many fall within a twisted network of families. FindAGrave.com has 1,059 memorials @ https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1684/old-saint-patricks-cemetery.   

We will be welcomed by Father Thomas Wasilewsk and enjoy a non-taxing walking tour of the Old Section of the cemetery, as well as a short tour of the current 147 year-old sanctuary [1877], led by parishioner Jacob Donner and the SIG Irish Lead Abigail Eynon.    Afterwards, those wishing to may have dinner at Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church’s Lenten Friday Fish Fry on your own [4:30pm to 7pm; over 60s $10 per person].  This event is open to those of any and all denominations.

 

Where:  Parking lot of Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church @ 5731 Whitmore Lake Rd. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 United States  Coordinates: 42.35830, -83.74940

 

In 1989 the GSWC's  Cemetery Committee transcribed the Old Section and created the only known map of burials.   [Transcription of] St. Patrick’s Cemetery Northfield Township Washtenaw County, Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan, Genealogical Society of Washtenaw Co., Michigan, Inc., June 1989) can be accessed in full at the Northfield Area Twsp. Library, Whitmore Lake, Michigan.