By David Curtis

Take a ride back in time by taking a leisurely drive down North Ridge Road between Gyde and Joy Roads. Then take a ride down Gyde Road east of North Ridge Road. Parts of these two roads are known as Natural Beauty Roads. This is what Canton looked like years ago with gravel roads and tree lined streets.

While you are there stop and walk through Kinyon Cemetery at the intersection of N. Ridge and Gyde Road. This is the final resting place of many early settlers who came west for a better life. Can you imagine the feelings of Samuel Burd and his son Philander who in 1825 received the first land grants from the U.S. government in what in 1834 would become Canton Township? Just four months later, Moses Bradford received a land grant for the property where Kinyon Cemetery sits. At some point he set aside one half acre for a burial place. This cemetery is now owned and operated by the Charter Township of Canton.

Another early cemetery was the Parrish Cemetery located at Gyde and Beck roads. Samuel Lyndon owned this farm. Lyndon desired to get rid of the graves that were so near to his home, and upon the advice of Orrin Kinyon purchased a half acre from Moses Bradford next to where Bradford had started a burial location. In about 1864, bodies were removed from the Parish Cemetery and placed on the Lyndon property of Kinyon Cemetery.

The name “Kinyon” was given to the graveyard because Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Kinyon took such an active interest in it. Most of the improvements that were made were done at their suggestion and under their supervision. Orrin Kinyon and wife Roxanna Fairman-Kinyon were early residents of Canton Twp. A series of tiny graves provide testament to the fact that five of Orrin and Roxanna’s sons died as little boys.

A Kinyon family story recounts the heartrending circumstances of the deaths of Irwin and Orrin. Their mother rose from her bed one dark night to tend her sick children. With no electricity to provide easy light, Roxanna probably did not take the time to light a candle or a lamp, and she unknowingly gave her sons horse medicine. They were not able to survive the effects of the poison. It is said that following this tragedy, Roxanna never smiled again. She walked up the road to the cemetery to visit her sons’ graves every day for the rest of her life. Kinyon School at the northwest of Ridge and Joy roads was named after this family.

The oldest known gravestone in Kinyon Cemetery is Anna Burd who died in 1825 at the age of 15. Anna was the daughter of Samuel and Betsey Burd. Some other people buried in this cemetery include:

• Eight Civil War soldiers: John Bartlett, Clark Eddy, George Eldred, Sebre Fairman, William Kelly, Alexander Lauran, Roswell Root (Jr.), and Winfield Safford.
• The Otis Eddy Family lost three sons in the Civil War. Gravestones for the three are in the cemetery as memorials. Only Clark is believed to be buried here as the other two, Willard and William, are buried in national cemeteries.
• Kenneth Gyde and his wife Onalee are buried in Kinyon. Gyde Road is named after ancestors of Kenneth.
• Several Hanfords are buried in here. Hanford Road was named after the Hanfords that built the large house at the corner of Ridge and Hanford Roads which is believed to have been built between 1830 and 1855.
• Alfred Moore – Just two weeks after the Burds received land grants, Alfred Moore received a land grant for 311 acres June 13, 1825. He built his home between 1830 & 1839 on Warren Road, east of Napier Road. The house is still standing.
• Archibald Murry was a Corporal in the War of 1812. He built a steam flour mill in Canton Twp. on his 80 acres near Napier and Warren Roads. This was property he received in an 1826 land grant. Archibald also had acreage on the west side of Napier Road in Washtenaw County where he built a steam saw mill.
• Roswell Root Sr. was a wagon master during the War of 1812.
• Winfield Scott Safford joined Company C, 24th Michigan Infantry and was commissioned First Lieutenant during the Civil War. He was killed in action at the Battle of Gettysburg while rallying his men around the flag. His uncle James Safford was the first supervisor of the township.

Tall, old maples and evergreens provide shade for the rows of scattered graves where so many Bradfords, Kinyons, Fairmans, Moores and Saffords lie in peace.

Right photo: Ridge Road use to be an Indian trail. Native Americans were known to bend over a tree branch to mark a trail. This is believed to be one of those historic trees so be sure to keep a lookout for it if you ever visit Kinyon Cemetery!

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