Line B: Etter / Cropsey of Cass County, Michigan

Research date: October 25, 2026. Free public records only. No paid sources, no Ancestry, no library fee requests. Deceased ancestors and public historical records only.

Method note: Joel directed the researchers to follow the gravestones, so cemetery evidence leads this report: stone inscriptions, shared stones, plot clusters, and cemetery transcriptions in Cass County, Michigan (Volinia, Marcellus, Cassopolis area) and at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park in Granger, Indiana.

Labels used below:

• PROVEN: on file from Joel's family records plus Palmer Funeral Homes obituaries.
• VERIFIED THIS PASS: seen in a named public record or transcription during this research, with the source URL.
• CANDIDATE: fits by name, date, and place, but no record yet ties the people together. Do not merge into the tree as fact.
• NOT FOUND: searched and not located. Listed explicitly at the end.

1. The trunk of Line B (PROVEN, on file)

• Leora Belle (Etter) Cochran, born April 29, 1898, Volinia, Cass County, MI; died May 1989, South Bend, IN. Married Benjamin Thomas Cochran Sr. on August 10, 1921, in Marcellus, Cass County, MI. Ran Cochran's Grocery, 708 Sorin St., South Bend (1950 census: grocery operator, own business).
• Leora's parents: Lewis A. Etter and Jane (Cropsey) Etter, of Cass County, MI.
• Leora's children: Betty Jane (Cochran) Reeder (1927-2011), Bernice J. (Cochran) Ricker (1930-2022), Benjamin T. Cochran Jr. (1933-1981). Sources: Palmer Funeral Homes obituaries, https://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Bernice-Ricker and https://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Betty-Reeder/services

2. Gravestone evidence, cemetery by cemetery (VERIFIED THIS PASS)

2a. Nicholsville Cemetery, also called Rose Hill, also called Little Prairie Ronde, Volinia Township, Cass County, MI

Source: MIGenWeb stone transcription (an older reading, typed by Christine Scott, posted April 12, 2007): https://www.migenweb.org/cass/cemeteries/nvillecem.htm

Cropsey / Cropsy stones, exactly as transcribed:

Reading notes:

• The transcription spells the older couple CROPSY and the younger family CROPSEY. Treat both spellings as the same surname in Cass County records.
• PeopleLegacy lists Katie L. (Lillie) Cropsey (1884-1927), wife of Otis Cropsey, at "Rose Hill Cemetery, Cass County" (https://peoplelegacy.com/katie_l_lillie_cropsey-3Y1D2P). Rose Hill is this same Nicholsville cemetery under its alternate name, so the two sources agree; there is no conflict.
• No ETTER entries appear in this transcription (full-text search of the page, October 25, 2026).

2b. Crane Cemetery, Volinia Township, Cass County, MI

Source: USGenWeb Archives Tombstone Photographs index for Crane Cemetery (about 1,876 lines, photos mostly by Jim Riggs, March to May 2021): http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/tsphoto/cass/crane.htm

Cropsey stones in the index (names and shared-stone groupings exactly as listed; inscription dates live on the individual photo pages, see the not-found list):

• Cropsey, Alexander Barton
• Cropsey, Dale V.
• Cropsey, Ellen A.
• Cropsey, Elvaro (4 photo entries)
• Cropsey, Gilbert and Lizzie (shared stone)
• Cropsey, Harmon G.
• Cropsey, Helen D.
• Cropsey, Maria
• Cropsey, Mary Louisa Rogers (3 photo entries)
• Cropsey, Monument (a family monument)
• Cropsey, Pearl Skinner & Samuel (shared stone)
• Cropsey, William H., Hattie E., and Raymond A. (shared triple stone)

Key negative: a full-text search of the Crane photo index returns NO Etter entries. Crane has a large Cropsey cluster but no photographed Etter stones, so Lewis and Jane Etter are probably not buried at Crane, or have no surviving stone or photo there.

Cropsey dates filled in from other records:

• Elvaro Cropsey, 20 Dec 1895 to 19 Sep 1981, Crane Cemetery, Find a Grave Memorial no. 192038868. Source: WikiTree profile Cropsey-18, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cropsey-18
• Harmon G. Cropsey, born August 16, 1917, Volinia Township, son of Elvaro and Marie (Coble) Cropsey; died March 13, 2009; burial Crane Cemetery. Source: obituary, Legacy.com / Lansing State Journal, March 16, 2009.
• Dale V. Cropsey, born January 26, 1920, Cass County, son of Marie (Coble) and Elvaro Cropsey; interment Crane Cemetery. Source: obituary in the GenealogyBuff Leelanau County collection.
• Ruth Marian (Lindsay) Cropsey, wife of Harmon George Cropsey (married July 29, 1943, at his farm home in Marcellus, MI), born July 30, 1921, died January 20, 2020; committal service at Crane Cemetery. Source: obituary, WeRemember / WLKM, January 2020.
• Samuel Cropsey died October 5, 1941 (see the Cass County death index in section 3). He is the Samuel on the shared Crane stone with Pearl Skinner Cropsey.

Later Etter burial at Crane: Donna Jean Johnson, born June 12, 1940, Decatur Township, MI, to Eston and Bessie (Warner) Etter; buried Crane Cemetery, Volinia, MI (obituary, Town Crier Wire, June 2022, https://www.towncrierwire.com/2022/06/07/donna-jean-johnson/). This shows an Etter branch using Crane Cemetery in the 1900s even though the older Etters are not in the Crane stone index. Her father's exact link to the Bly Cemetery Etters is unverified.

2c. Bly Cemetery, Marcellus Township (also called Marcellus Cemetery), Cass County, MI

This is the Etter cluster. Source: PeopleLegacy cemetery burial listings for Bly Cemetery (Find a Grave derived), read October 25, 2026: https://peoplelegacy.com/elnora_s__smith_emery-1X0b7y and https://peoplelegacy.com/arthur_h__emery-2n0w3z . Bly main page: https://www.migenweb.org/cass/cemeteries/blycem.htm

Etter burials listed at Bly:

Reading notes:

• Lewis A. Etter and Jane (Cropsey) Etter do NOT appear in the Bly slice returned. The slice may be incomplete or paginated, so this is not proof they are absent from Bly. Their burial place is still NOT FOUND.
• Isa Bird Bucklin Etter detail (Bucklin family data page B39, https://www.bucklindata.net/b39.html): Isa Bird Bucklin, born 25 August 1887, Michigan; married Deverne Ray Etter on 23 November 1904 in Marcellus, Cass, Michigan; died 10 June 1934 at Kalamazoo State Hospital, Kalamazoo, MI; buried Bly Cemetery, plot 787; children Kenneth D. Etter and Infant Etter. Deverne Ray Etter himself did not appear in the Bly slice.
• Another Cropsey at Bly: Leta Marie Cropsey Ritter, Dec 24, 1925 to Apr 28, 2023, daughter of Sherman D. Cropsey and Bessie Irene Griffis Cropsey, Bly Cemetery, Plot 1303 (PeopleLegacy, https://peoplelegacy.com/leta_marie_cropsey_ritter-5y1b132). Her line's link to Jane (Cropsey) Etter is unverified.

2d. Goff Cemetery, Marcellus Township (private)

Source: MIGenWeb, https://www.migenweb.org/cass/cemeteries/gpcem.htm : "Goff Cemetery is located on the farm of Charles Etter in section 20 of Marcellus Township" (private property, overgrown as of 2001). The burials listed there are Goff family only (Fred Sr. 1787-1839, Fred Jr. 1817-1850, Hiram, Ephriam 1815-1855, Albine (Foster) Goff 1819-1854). No Etter burials are listed in the Goff listing itself. The Charles Etter named is plausibly Charles E. Etter (1858-1938) of Bly Cemetery, but that identification is a CANDIDATE, not proven.

2e. St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger, IN (Leora and Benjamin Sr.)

• Benjamin Cochran, 1892-1959 (aged 66), appears in the PeopleLegacy Benjamin Cochran burial listing with the address 375 W Cleveland Rd, Granger, Indiana 46530 (https://peoplelegacy.com/burial-records/benjamin/cochran/). That address is St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park. The WikiTree cemetery category for the park gives the same address, 375 W Cleveland Road, Find a Grave cemetery ID 199742, phone (574) 272-6971. The park carries both Granger and Mishawaka address variants; it is one cemetery.
• Family use of the park is corroborated: Betty Reeder's obituary (Palmer, December 2011) states burial at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger; Bernice Ricker's obituary (Palmer, January 2022) states graveside services and burial at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger.
• Leora's own memorial or stone at the park was NOT confirmed. Searches for Leora Cochran at Granger returned no matching memorial. The only "Leora Belle Cochran" located is a different woman (born April 14, 1901, died December 30, 1948, Whittier, CA). Do not merge.
• Caution flag: a separate full search-index hunt on October 25, 2026 found no direct Find a Grave or BillionGraves memorial pages for Benjamin Sr. or Leora, which fits a cemetery that is poorly indexed online. The PeopleLegacy entry above is Find a Grave derived data, but the exact memorial number was not captured. Plot confirmation still needs the cemetery office or a working live Find a Grave cemetery search.

3. Cass County death index (VERIFIED THIS PASS)

Source: "Cass County Death Records 1867-1960," MIGenWeb, obtained from the Cassopolis Historical Library: http://www.migenweb.org/cass/dea1867to1960.htm

• Exactly one Cropsey entry in the whole index: Cropsey, Samuel, October 5, 1941.
• Zero Etter entries in the whole index. A full-text search matched only "Shetterly" entries.

What this means, stated carefully: if Lewis A. Etter died in Volinia Township in 1928, this index missed him, or he died outside Cass County, or the candidate 1928 date is wrong. The index is a library compilation and may be incomplete, so this is a flag to resolve with his Michigan death certificate, not proof the WikiTree dates are wrong.

4. Lewis A. Etter

CANDIDATE data (WikiTree index, not yet proven from records)

• Lewis A. Etter, born 28 Sep 1854, Ohio, United States; died 02 Jan 1928, Volinia Township, Cass, Michigan, United States. Source: WikiTree surname index, https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/ETTER (entry last edited 21 Aug 2024). The profile page itself and its cited sources were not opened in this pass, so every part of this stays CANDIDATE.
• The dates fit what is on file (a Cass County man of the right generation to be Leora's father), and Volinia is Leora's birthplace township.

Business trace (VERIFIED THIS PASS, first name not stated)

• The Cassopolis Vigilant of July 11, 1918 reported that Verne Clark was "a partner in the firm of Etter & Clark, conducting a general store in the village of Nicholsville in Volinia township" (quoted on the MIGenWeb Cass County tidbits page, https://www.migenweb.org/cass/familyalbum/tidbits.htm). An Etter ran a general store at Nicholsville in 1918, in the same village whose cemetery holds the George and Elsie Cropsey plot. Which Etter (Lewis, Charles, or Deverne) is not stated.

NOT FOUND for Lewis

• Burial place. Not in the Crane photo index, not in the Bly slice returned, no Michigan Find a Grave memorial located. The only "Lewis Etter, Sr." burial found is a different man: 1806-1895, Plainfield Township Cemetery, Plainfield, IL.
• Full middle name (the "A." is never expanded in any source seen).
• Occupation (the Etter & Clark store is a lead, not an attribution).
• Cass County death index entry (none exists, see section 3).
• Michigan death certificate image (he would have died in the free 1897-1952 range at michiganology.org; that search was not completed this pass and is the single highest-value next record, because the certificate should name his parents and his burial place).

5. Jane (Cropsey) Etter

NOT FOUND, almost everything

• No dates, no birth or death place, no burial, no memorial, and no marriage record were located for Jane in any source searched this pass.
• Her first name may appear in records as Jennie, a common variant; that variant was not tested.
• Best next records: the Lewis Etter and Jane Cropsey Michigan marriage record (likely Cass County, 1870s to 1880s); her Michigan death certificate if she died in Michigan between 1897 and 1952 (free images at michiganology.org), which would name her Cropsey parents and her burial place; and Leora's own records naming her mother.

How Jane may connect to the Cass County Cropseys (CANDIDATE framework, records only)

• The Cass County Cropsey stones form two clusters: Crane Cemetery (Volinia) and Nicholsville / Rose Hill Cemetery (Volinia). Both are in Leora's birthplace township.
• The Nicholsville couple George Cropsey (1854-1923) and Elsie Cropsey (1860-1922) are of Jane's likely generation. No record yet states Jane's relationship to them. Do not assign one.
• No surname lore was used. The Cropsey family's New York origin below comes from one WikiTree family tree and stays CANDIDATE until census or vital records confirm it.

6. One generation up

Etter side: John C. Etter (CANDIDATE father of Lewis)

• WikiTree index: John C. Etter, born 1817, Pennsylvania, United States; died 24 May 1883, Michigan, United States; last edited 21 Aug 2024, the same day as Lewis A. Etter's entry, which suggests the two profiles were built together as a linked family. Source: https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/ETTER
• Bly Cemetery holds a John C. Etter, 1817-1883 (section 2c). The years match the WikiTree entry exactly.
• The father-son link is a hypothesis only. The test: John C. Etter's 1860 and 1870 census households in Cass County should show a son Lewis born about 1854 in Ohio and a son Charles born about 1858. Census images are the next step.
• Conflicting lead, DO NOT USE yet: an Ancestry records snippet (not an approved source) gave John C. Etter as born 28 Jun 1816 in PA, died 24 Mar 1883 in Marcellus, with father Samuel Etter and mother Christina Ruff. The death month conflicts with WikiTree (March vs May 1883), and the Samuel and Christina names are unproven. Recorded here only so a later pass can prove or kill them from free records.

Cropsey side: the Elvaro Cropsey tree (CANDIDATE)

Source: WikiTree profile of Elvaro Cropsey (Cropsey-18), https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cropsey-18 , family tree panel:

• Father: born 31 Jan 1854, New York; died 02 Mar 1923. Mother: 1860-1922.
• Paternal grandfather: born 04 Feb 1824, Rensselaer, New York; died 09 Aug 1889.
• Great-grandfather: born abt 29 Jul 1793, New York; died 09 Feb 1869.
• Names for the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were not captured in the snippet read.
• The father and mother dates match the Nicholsville stones for George Cropsey (1854-1923) and Elsie Cropsey (1860-1922) closely (George: 1854 to 1923; Elsie: 1860 to 1922), and a PeopleLegacy search result separately showed a George Cropsey 1854-1923 in Cass County, Michigan. George and Elsie as Elvaro's parents is a strong CANDIDATE, not proven; a stone alone does not state the relationship.
• If that chain holds, the Cass County Cropseys came from Rensselaer County, New York. That is a records-based lead from the tree above, still CANDIDATE.

7. Leora's siblings

NOT FOUND as proven siblings

• No 1900 or 1910 census household for Lewis and Jane Etter was retrieved in this pass, and no proven sibling of Leora was identified.

Candidates to test (NOT proven)

• Deverne Ray Etter: married Isa Bird Bucklin on 23 November 1904 in Marcellus, Cass County; Isa is buried at Bly Cemetery, plot 787 (section 2c). Right place, right era to be Leora's brother. His parents are not established in any source read.
• Charles E. Etter (1858-1938, Bly Cemetery) is too old to be Lewis's son and is better treated as a candidate BROTHER of Lewis (both possibly sons of John C. Etter). The Charles Etter farm that held Goff Cemetery in Marcellus Township is plausibly his.
• Eston C. Etter (1908-1986, Bly) and Pearl W. Etter (1888-1969, Bly) belong to the next generation down; relationships unassigned.

8. Leora herself: open items

• Exact death day in May 1989: NOT FOUND. SSDI lookups this pass did not return her entry (one attempt was aborted by a tool timeout). Her Social Security record under "Leora Cochran," born April 29, 1898, last residence South Bend, should pin the day.
• Burial: expected beside Benjamin Sr. at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger (his 1892-1959 entry at that address is in section 2e), but her own stone or memorial is UNCONFIRMED.
• Obituary: none retrieved. A May 1989 South Bend Tribune obituary is the likely text; the SJCPL obituary index is free to search even though copy requests were declined by Joel.

9. Explicit NOT FOUND list (searched, not located)

1. Lewis A. Etter: burial place; Michigan Find a Grave memorial; Cass County death index entry; full middle name; occupation; death certificate.
2. Jane (Cropsey) Etter: dates, places, burial, memorial, marriage record, and any record at all naming her beyond the on-file parent statement.
3. Leora Cochran: exact death day (May 1989); her own Find a Grave memorial at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park; any obituary text.
4. Leora's siblings: no proven sibling found; no 1900 or 1910 Lewis Etter household retrieved.
5. Crane Cemetery Cropsey inscription dates: the USGenWeb photo index gives names and shared stones, but the individual photo pages carrying full inscription dates were not opened (one index open timed out). Dates still missing for Alexander Barton, Ellen A., Gilbert and Lizzie, Helen D., Maria, Mary Louisa Rogers, Pearl (Samuel's date, Oct 5, 1941, came from the death index), and William H., Hattie E., and Raymond A.
6. Bly Cemetery reading pages: the 33 MIGenWeb row and section pages linked from the Bly main page were not scanned this pass; Etter and Cropsey plot rows there remain unchecked beyond the PeopleLegacy data in section 2c.
7. BillionGraves: Cass County browse pages exist, but no Etter or Cropsey BillionGraves record was located.
8. Lewis Etter and Jane Cropsey marriage record (Cass County, expected 1870s to 1880s): not retrieved.

10. Highest-value next records (all free)

1. Lewis A. Etter's Michigan death certificate (died 1928 if the candidate date holds) at michiganology.org: should give parents, occupation, and burial place in one document.
2. Jane (Cropsey) Etter's Michigan death certificate at michiganology.org, plus the "Jennie Etter" variant.
3. The Lewis Etter and Jane Cropsey Cass County marriage record (FamilySearch public indexes).
4. John C. Etter's 1860 and 1870 Cass County census households, to test him as father of Lewis (b. about 1854, Ohio) and Charles (b. about 1858).
5. Lewis and Jane Etter's 1900 and 1910 Cass County census households, to name Leora's siblings.
6. The individual Crane Cemetery photo pages for the Cropsey stones, to capture exact inscription dates and any plot numbering.
7. The 33 MIGenWeb Bly Cemetery reading pages, scanned for Etter and Cropsey rows with lot numbers.
8. St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park office (574-272-6971) or a live Find a Grave cemetery search (cemetery ID 199742) to confirm Leora's plot beside Benjamin Sr.