John May Cemetery
Center, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
JOHN MAY CEMETERY John May Cemetery, also known as the May-Hooper Cemetery, holds the graves of the May and Hooper families dating back to the 1850s. Pioneers began to settle Shelby County around 1836, including the John May family. Born in 1797, John immigrated to Texas in 1836 with his wife and two sons. He settled on 605 acres of land near the flat fork branch of the Tenaha Bayou. John May died around 1870 and was buried near his first two wives in their family cemetery. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a Texas Ranger. The May House is still standing near the cemetery and is now called the “Haight House.” The Richard Hooper family is also buried in this cemetery. Richard was born in 1783 in Virginia and immigrated to Texas with his wife and family. In 1836, he served in the army of the Republic of Texas, then represented the county in the first congress of the republic. Hooper was paid as a surveyor for establishing the line between Shelby county and Panola county and was elected county surveyor twice. He died in 1855 and was buried here. Between 1960 and 1980, the cemetery was repeatedly vandalized and tombstones were taken. The land was then sold to the international paper company in 1970 without mention of the cemetery. Trees grew inside the originally fenced area and the cemetery slid into disrepair until 2001 when concerned individuals began to preserve it. In 2004, the Hooper-May Preservation Association was established to clean up and preserve the cemetery. Since it is on the original John May land, it is now called the John May Cemetery. The cemetery is an important early pioneer site, holding the graves of settlers from the early days of the Republic of Texas. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John May came to Shelby County in 1836, among the pioneers settling near the Tenaha Bayou in the earliest days of the Republic of Texas, and this graveyard holds the May and Hooper families from the 1850s onward. Richard Hooper, who arrived the same year, served in the Republic's army, sat in its first congress, and worked as county surveyor. Vandalized and neglected after the land was sold in 1970, the cemetery was rescued by a preservation association in 2004 and renamed for its original owner.
Why it matters
The John May Cemetery preserves the graves of men who helped build the Republic of Texas from its first year, and its rescue from ruin shows how communities reclaim their founding history.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When John May's family arrived in Shelby County around 1836, they were stepping into one of the most dramatic years in the history of Texas. That was the year the Republic of Texas won its independence and became a nation of its own, and pioneers were pouring into the region to claim land and build lives on what was then a raw frontier. May settled on 605 acres near the flat fork branch of the Tenaha Bayou, deep in the piney woods of East Texas.
This was the era of the Early Republic, when Texas governed itself as an independent country before joining the United States. Settlers who came in 1836 were true founders—there were few roads, few institutions, and enormous tracts of forest and prairie to be turned into farms and homesteads. Land was the great opportunity, and men who had served in the era's conflicts were often rewarded with it.
Into this new republic came people carrying the experience of an older America. John May had been born in 1797, old enough to have lived through the early decades of the United States. Richard Hooper, another founder buried here, had been born even earlier, in 1783 in Virginia—a man whose life reached back nearly to the nation's beginning.
People & events
John May's life reads like a chapter of the American frontier itself. Born in 1797, he was a veteran of the War of 1812 and later a Texas Ranger before he immigrated to Texas in 1836 with his wife and two sons. He built a homestead on the Tenaha Bayou that endured him: the May House still stands near the cemetery today, though it is now known as the Haight House. When John died around 1870, he was buried near his first two wives in the family cemetery that would eventually carry his name.
Alongside the Mays rest the Hoopers, and Richard Hooper's story is just as remarkable. Born in Virginia in 1783, he came to Texas with his wife and family and threw himself into the founding of the new republic. In 1836 he served in the army of the Republic of Texas, then represented the county in its very first congress—a genuine founding legislator. He was also paid as a surveyor to help establish the line between Shelby and Panola counties, and was twice elected county surveyor before his death in 1855.
The cemetery holds these two families from the 1850s onward, and it is sometimes called the May-Hooper Cemetery in recognition of both. Between them, May and Hooper embody the two great callings of the frontier: the soldier-settler who cleared and held the land, and the surveyor-statesman who drew its lines and made its laws.
Its place in the American story
This burial ground preserves the graves of men who helped build the Republic of Texas from its very first year—a distinct and vivid chapter of the larger American story of westward expansion. Before Texas was a state, it was a nation, and people like Richard Hooper, who sat in its first congress and surveyed its county lines, were quite literally drawing the shape of a new country.
John May's biography knits Texas into the broader arc of American history. A War of 1812 veteran who became a Texas Ranger and then a founding settler, he carried the story of the early United States westward into a brand-new republic. Lives like his remind us that the American frontier was settled by people whose service and experience stretched back across generations and thousands of miles.
The cemetery's later history carries its own hard lesson. Vandalized repeatedly between 1960 and 1980, with tombstones taken, the site was sold to the International Paper Company in 1970 without any mention of the graves it contained. Trees grew up inside the once-fenced ground and the cemetery slid into ruin—until concerned individuals began to rescue it in 2001, and the Hooper-May Preservation Association formed in 2004 to restore and protect it. That story of loss and reclamation is deeply American too: a reminder that our founding history survives only when communities choose to defend it.
If you visit
Come to the John May Cemetery to stand among the graves of genuine founders of the Republic of Texas. As you walk the grounds, remember that this ground was nearly lost—vandalized for two decades and even sold off in 1970 without acknowledgment of the graves—before dedicated people brought it back from ruin beginning in 2001. What you see today is a rescue, and that gives the place a special poignancy.
Look for the oldest markers to find the earliest members of the May and Hooper families, whose graves reach back to the 1850s. Nearby stands the old May House, now known as the Haight House, a rare surviving link to the homestead John May established on the Tenaha Bayou in the republic's first year. Seeing the house and the cemetery together helps you picture the whole world these pioneers built.
The cemetery is cared for by the Hooper-May Preservation Association and was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2010, so visit with the respect due a restored and tended burial ground: keep to open ground and leave every stone undisturbed. Set in the piney woods near Center, it makes a meaningful stop for travelers drawn to the founding days of Texas and to the quiet drama of a historic place reclaimed from neglect.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John May
- · Richard Hooper
Themes & tags
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