Nearly 100 years after he was laid to rest, Albert Nelson Stevens will receive a headstone in a dedication ceremony at Plymouth’s Riverside Cemetery on October 19. While preparing for this year’s Plymouth Characters Cemetery Walk, an annual event of the Plymouth Historical Museum, historians discovered that Stevens, a featured character and Civil War veteran from Company D, 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, had no grave marker to commemorate his life. One can imagine the countless veterans that have fallen victim to this sad oversight, but Stevens will no longer suffer such anonymity. Some of Stevens’s descendants will be present for the ceremony, including a granddaughter and great-grandson.
According to Public Law 107-103, signed on December 27, 2001, the Veterans Administration is required to furnish an appropriate government marker for the grave of a veteran buried in a private cemetery. Rick Danes, commander of the Sergeant John S. Cosbey Camp No. 427, Sons of Union Veterans (SUV) in Dearborn, submitted the application in cooperation with the Plymouth Historical Museum and the City of Plymouth Department of Municipal Services (who agreed to install the headstone at no charge).
The dedication ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 19, in Block B of Riverside Cemetery on Plymouth Road, near the 35th District Court. The ceremony will be conducted by members of the Cosbey Camp SUV and the Plymouth Historical Museum’s Mike Gillett, a reenactor who portrays a Civil War Union chaplain. Other Civil War reenactors will be present to lend the ceremony the dignity and authenticity it deserves.
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Albert Nelson Stevens was born July 4, 1841, in Whitmore Lake, MI. He enlisted in Company D, 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry on June 20, 1861, but was discharged December 10 of that same year, because of rheumatism contracted in poor camp conditions. He reenlisted on December 5, 1864, in Company A, 30th MI Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged June 30, 1865.
On November 12, 1865, Stevens married Kate Hill in Milford, MI; the couple had 8 children, 4 of which survived to adulthood.
Stevens’ granddaughters, Helen DeWolf, 90, and Juanita St. Charles,?88, and great-grandson, James Stevens, hope to be attending the ceremony, along with their families, and expressed great joy and gratitude that their family member would be finally be honored and remembered in such a significant way.
Juanita and James have agreed to be interviewed by reporters. If you would like to talk with them, please contact Liz Kerstens, executive director, Plymouth Historical Museum, for their contact information. Liz can be reached at 734-455-8940 or director@plymouthhistory.org.
We have not yet found a photo of Albert Stevens.
