Hillside Cemetery Tour brings visitors out on icy, windy Saturday

Rick Dawson of Belleville was among those dressed up in historical outfits on Oct. 17 as part of the Hillside Cemetery tour put on by the Belleville Area Museum.
It was an icy, windy day and participants and visitors had to bundle up against the cold.
Museum Director Katie Dallos swears she saw snowflakes.
Dawson was at the grave of Fernando W. Moon and was dressed in a long coat, called a duster that men used to wear. He wore a dark, blue suede cap with the Union crossed rifles design on the front. He also wore his name tag: Fernando Moon.
Dawson has taken the part of Fernando Moon every time there was an opportunity to do so for the last five years. Dawson’s wife Mary Jane said she kids him sometimes that he knows more about Fernando and his brother Oliver (who also fought in the Civil War) than he does some of his own relatives.
Fernando W. Moon was a Union soldier, first librarian of Belleville (which was the second reading station in Wayne County), part owner of Moon-Cady Hardware, husband of Lydia E. (Fish) Moon, and father of Carrie (Moon) Cobb (who was married to Dr. Leonard Cobb).
Fernando and Lydia lived in a large home with a wrap-around porch at the corner of Fourth and Liberty. Fernando, Lydia, Leonard, and Carrie are all buried in a family plot at Hillside that was jointly purchased by Fernando and Leonard when Lydia died in 1916.
It is in Section 2 right next to one of the incoming driving paths. There is a large upright stone with MOON / CADY and then 4 smaller headstones that are just above ground level.
Fernando and Oliver Moon were in the Michigan 24th Infantry, Company D (also known as the Iron Brigade). They fought in many well-known battles together, including Gettysburg where Oliver was wounded.
Both of them returned to Van Buren Township after the war. Fernando lived here the rest of his life. Oliver moved to Van Buren County, then Indiana, then Milwaukee where he spent his last years in the Old Soldiers’ Home. Oliver was buried in Minnesota.
Because of the lack of parking in Hillside Cemetery, the museum offered shuttle rides to and from the museum to the cemetery for the tours.
The tour took in the oldest part of the cemetery and museum officials said there are plenty of other gravesites of interesting, historic people in other parts of the cemetery to use in upcoming tours.