(Excerpt from Scot H. Chils, BSA Troop 742, Livonia, MI, Eagle Project)
Ephraim Butterfield arrived in Livonia Township from Orleans County, New York in 1829, purchasing 80 acres of farmland. By an act of territorial legislation, on March 17, 1835, Livonia Township was officially formed. Then on September 18, 1836, Ephraim Butterfield and his wife Phebe sold a portion of their property to Livonia Township for the creation of the Livonia Cemetery. The cemetery was originally operated by a designated Cemetery Association, but after Livonia was incorporated into a city 1950, the city has been it's overseer. Originally the road on which the Livonia Cemetery is located was known as Center Road; thus some old timers were known to refer to the cemetery as Center Cemetery. Just to it's northern fence lies the old Union Church and Grange Hall Buildings. The church was built in 1881, and currently houses the Livonia Little Tots - day care center. Grange Hall was the central meeting place in Livonia and held many of it's social activities. The Livonia Cemetery encompasses over one acre of land. Within the cemetery, the sections to the south of the entrance contain the oldest graves. The north sections have a mixture of old family plots interspersed with newer burials. (The most recent being 2005.) There are no new burial plots being sold by the city, but they can be purchased on an individual basis from the plot owners. The main cemetery entrance road travels west from Farmington Road toward the back of the cemetery, then makes a sharp right (north) turn and runs all the way to the northern fence. (The road somewhat extends to the southern fence line in the same fashion.) The section located west of the cemetery road is totally vacant of graves, except for 3-4 graves in the NW corner, and 3-4 graves mid-way behind the older section toward the south. (It is very hard to know if there are any other graves in this area without markers.)