Manchester's original cemetery, known as the Old Burying Ground, was established in the 1830s as James Harvey Fargo laid out a larger version of the village after Stephen Fargo acquired and redeveloped much of the land. Fargo set aside a 165-foot-by-165-foot parcel in Section 2 of Manchester Township on a bluff overlooking the north bend of the River Raisin for a burying ground, but apparently never deeded it to the township or anyone else, creating legal problems that later contributed to its neglect. The need for a village cemetery had arisen by 1833, when Henry Annibal, an early settler and sawmill operator, died and was first buried on Ann Arbor Hill before being moved there, and the first verified burial directly in the cemetery was Dr. Eleazer Root on January 31, 1837. James Harvey Fargo himself was buried there in November 1840 before his remains were moved to Oak Grove Cemetery in 1885. Because the small burial ground soon proved inadequate for the growing village, Oak Grove Cemetery was established in 1856, after which burials in the Old Burying Ground largely ceased and many families moved their dead to Oak Grove family plots. Though a few burials may have continued until 1860 and the township fenced the cemetery in 1861, the absence of any legal owner left it without oversight as vegetation and decay took over. Complaints about its condition appeared in 1871 and again in 1884, when the fence was down and cattle wandered through the graves. In 1930, township historian Annetta English recorded lilac bushes, snowberries, flourishing maples, and 35 remaining markers. In 1964, Don Limpert, after buying adjacent land and discovering the cemetery had no title, obtained ownership through a quiet title claim, found one standing headstone and pieces of others, and began cleanup and some restoration; the surrounding land was later developed into Millpond Condominium units and sold in 1982 to an Ann Arbor developer who still retains possession. Research drawing on Albert D. English's necrology, Oak Grove removal and reburial records, earlier inscription records, DAR records, Richard Spafford's work, and other written and anecdotal sources has confirmed that at least 42 people remain buried in the Old Burying Ground, with perhaps 40 to 50 more likely still there. Those left behind may have had no family remaining in Manchester, may have been children whose memory was lost, or may have been itinerant travelers. Among the notable burials is Artemus Kief, patriarch of a prominent early Manchester family whose children were active in the village's growth, and Dr. Buckley A. Parnell, a nationally known lecturer on phrenology who came to Manchester in April 1847, delivered fifteen lectures, died suddenly at the Manchester Hotel on April 22, 1847, and was buried there at his request with his feet toward the South as an anti-slavery advocate; at his request, his head was removed and sent with the brain to phrenologists Fowler and Wells of New York City, and later local ghost stories claimed his voice could be heard calling, "I want my head back."