John M. Cole and his wife Susan Seder Cole were pioneer settlers who homesteaded this farm in 1866 and began this cemetery by finding and burying victims of the Forest Fire on September 5, 1881. John M. Cole was a Union soldier who served in the 61st New York Volunteers Infantry, Company E, and the 8th Michigan Cavalry, Company G. Their children, most of whom were born on this farm 40 rods south of this point, were William J., John M. Jr., Mary E., Jennie M., Caroline E., Harriet B., Lucy A., Nelson J., Melvin R., Ella J., George A., James F., Myrtle M., and Winfred J.