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.
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Related people
- · John May
- · Richard Hooper
Themes & tags
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