Yates and Methodist Protestant Cemeteries

Historical marker location:

Cooper, Texas

( about 1 mi. from center of Cooper, 11 blocks east, 5 blocks south of the town square on CR 1010)

George Yates (1807-1886), his wife Mary Polly Wallace Yates (1809-1886), and their family migrated to Texas in 1846. They settled in an area of the newly-formed Hopkins County that would later become part of Delta County. George Yates raised livestock on the 976 acres of land he owned.

Mary Yates, the 15-year-old daughter of George and Polly Yates, died in 1855. She was buried here on a hill near their log house. Her grave marks the origin of the family and community graveyard called The Yates Cemetery. Over the years, thirteen burials too place; the last was that of William Henry Chesnut, who died in 1923.

In 1887, G. L. Harper and his wife Emily Frances Yates Harper deeded one-half acre of land to the Methodist Protestant church for a graveyard. The donation included the Yates Cemetery measuring one-fourth acre, which was given back to the family in 1901. Dr. D. T. Robinson and his wife, Eliza Robinson are buried west of here; theirs are the only makred graves at this site. Although two other graves are known to exist, it is believed there are several more unmarked graves. Both cemeteries are maintained by descendants of those buried here. (1996)