McAuley Cemetery, Leonidas Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan, USA

McAuley Cemetery, Leonidas Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan, USA

On 6 October 2001, I attempted to locate the McAuley Cemetery.

I spoke with one old-timer who lived in the area and he reported that he did not know of a cemetery in the area. Nevertheless, from the NW corner of the dirt road comprising the Northern boundary of section 34, I drove East to the second property line going South. At this point, the property line is a fence dividing two farming fields; looking South at this point, to the East you will see a field and then an Amish home, and to the West you will see a field and an electrified home; to the North (i.e. right behind you) is another Amish homestead and almost directly North will be a driveway for that Amish homestead. I drove along the Eastern side of this property line South to the Southern end of the field. The field ends here, becomes forested and overgrown, and slopes down at this point to a small pond (a stagnant pool of water). The other side of this pond (i.e. the Southern end of this pond) is another short, raised bank just on the other side of which is the river. It appears as though the area is subject to flooding; it appears that the river can overflow a lower part of this area and refill the pond with fresh water. At the time I visited, however, it was possible to walk entirely around this small pond, which I did.

I searched around the pond area for over an hour and found no trace of the cemetery. I did locate a [[media:mcauley.jpg|long-abandoned railroad bridge]] over the river which the old-timer hadn't mentioned. The pond and my search concentrated on the Eastern side of this former bridge.