Ionia-Eaton County MI Archives News.....WHO IN OUR CEMETERIES WAS FIRST ON EARTH? June 1976
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THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR, August 1976, Volume 12, Number 1; Submitted With Written Permission Of Editor Grayden D. Slowins: June 1976
THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR, August 1976, Volume 12, Number 1; submitted with 
written permission of Editor Grayden D. Slowins:

WHO IN OUR CEMETERIES WAS FIRST ON EARTH?
Our Revolutionary War veteran, Jonathan Ingalls, though not in the cemetery, 
had the distinction of being born in 1762.

Next in the Sebewa cemetery is Polly Baker.  Her stone marker indicates that 
she was born in 1770 and lived to the age of 91.  Census records suggest that 
she may have been the mother-in-law of John Maxim, one of Sebewa’s early 
settlers and grandfather to Del Northrup.  The families lived in section one of 
Sebewa.

Samuel Carpenter was originally buried in the Carpenter cemetery at Tupper Lake 
and Kimmel Roads.  When that cemetery was discontinued, his remains were moved 
to the Sebewa Baptist cemetery.  His tombstone gives his age as 85 and born in 
1775.  He was the father of Elkanah, Jonah, Henry, Cyril and others of that 
family.  The Carpenter farms were on Tupper Lake Road west of the Bishop 
School.  Cyril’s son, Dr. Henry Carpenter was the father of Claude Carpenter.  
Claude was the grandfather of Jerry Carpenter of Lake Odessa.

Another eighteenth century birth whose burial is in the Sebewa cemetery is that 
of Mary (Shay) Probasco born in 1795.  Interest in these dates was aroused in 
placing a tombstone for Pheba Shay as a Sebewa Center Bicentennial event.  
Pheba lived on the schoolhouse forty acres just to the west of the corner.  
Grayden Slowins discovered from the cemetery records that Pheba’s grave had 
never been marked with a stone.  Pheba was the mother of Ephraim Shay, the 
inventor of the Shay locomotive during the logging era.  Although Ephraim 
amassed a fortune from his locomotive royalties, he was far enough away in time 
and distance not to remedy the neglect of his mother’s grave.

Grayden set a foundation for a marker there last fall and this year, through 
the courtesy of Steve Yenchar of Ionia and the Lowell Granite Company of Lowell 
as a bicentennial gesture, a suitable marker was made for Pheba’s grave.  Some 
others of her family were buried there also but the record is not clear.

Mary Probasco was Pheba’s mother.  Mary’s son, Henry, lived in Muir and was in 
the Union army in the Civil War.  At the Muir Church of Christ one of the 
stained glass windows is dedicated to Mary Probasco’s memory.

Pheba’s granddaughter, Mrs. Charles (Velma) Lewellyn of Slidell, Louisiana has 
furnished us with some of the family information.

Jacob Probasco was born 1793 and married in 1813, died 1840.  Mary (Shay) 
Probasco was born 1795 and died in 1878.  Their children were:  John Probasco 
born 1814, Pheba (Probasco) Shay born 1818 and died in 1873; Priscilla Probasco 
born in 1815, Henry Probasco born in 1820 and died in 1862; Sarahann Probasco 
born 1823; George Probasco born in 1827, served in the war with Mexico and died 
1846; Ephraim Probasco born 1829, lived in Sebewa, Benjamin Probasco born 1831 
and lived in Sebewa, Mary Jane Probasco born 1833, and Melissa Cordielye 
Probasco born in 1835.

THE SHAY FAMILY:
James Shay was born in 1814, married Pheba Probasco 1837 and died 1861.  Their 
children were:
Loretta Shay, 1837-1853, Ephraim born 1839, Uzel born 1841, died 1849; 
Priscilla born 1843, Theodore born 1845, died 1883, Victoria born 1847, died 
1847; Chauncy born 1848, died 1853; Susanna born 1852, died 1856; Mary Ann 
Velma born 1856, died 1889, Arthur born 1858, died 1925; Florence born 1861, 
died 1861.

The story of Ephraim Shay is told in the October 1967 SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR.



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