Saint Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery / Saint Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery

During the 1830s a number of Irish Catholic settlers migrated from New York State to Deerfield and Tyrone Townships, drawn by the prospect of purchasing inexpensive land. When they arrived there was no parish to serve them. In 1843 Father Patrick O’Kelly of Green Oak, who served all of Livingston and Oakland Counties, organized a parish with thirteen families. A wood frame church was soon erected on the corner opposite from here where the oldest part of the cemetery is located. The church was originally a mission named Saints Peter and Paul; in 1870 it was renamed Saint Augustine Church. The cemetery’s earliest burial dates from 1846. Built of brick and hammered stone in the High Victorian Gothic style, this church is an elaborate one for a rural community. Many parishioners helped build the church including members of the Bennett, Conklin, McKeon, Murphy, Robb, Sweeney, and Lyons families. Frank McKeon did the masonry work. Upon its dedication on December 8, 1895, the Fenton Republican called it “a monument to the untiring zeal and faithful labors of Reverend George Maurer, and every member of the society.” In 1963 church members brought stone from a church being demolished in Lansing and from nearby farms to build the enclosed entrance vestibule.