Hayes Cemetery
HAYES CEMETERY
IRISH NATIVE PATRICK HAYES ARRIVED IN TEXAS CA. 1836 BY WAY OF NEW YORK AND MARYLAND. SHORTLY AFTER HIS ARRIVAL HE ENLISTED IN THE TEXAS ARMY AND FOUGHT IN THE WAR FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. AFTER BEING HONORABLY DISCHARGED FOR HIS SERVICE, HE MOVED TO THIS AREA. IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS HAYES AMASSED LARGE TRACTS OF LAND THAT HE USED FOR COTTON FARMING AND HORSE BREEDING. HE ESTABLISHED THREE PLANTATIONS—SEVEN OAKS, CAIRO AND BOGGY CREEK—ALONG THE TRINITY RIVER. HAYES WAS KNOWN AS “DR. HAYES” AND PRACTICED HERBAL MEDICINE AS A RESPECTED RURAL DOCTOR.
THE CEMETERY AT THIS SITE BEGAN IN 1857 AS A PRIVATE FAMILY BURIAL GROUND ON THE SEVEN OAKS PLANTATION. THE FIRST BURIAL OCCURRED CA. 1857, WHEN HAYES’ SON, JAMES FRANK, DIED. APPROXIMATELY TWO YEARS LATER, PATRICK HAYES’ WIFE, AMANDA MELISSA JOHNSTON, DIED AT OLD WAVERLY. HAYES LATER REQUESTED IN HIS WILL THAT SHE BE REINTERED AT THIS SITE; HE DIED IN 1863 AND IS ALSO BELIEVED TO BE BURIED HERE. THE CEMETERY’S ONLY MARKED GRAVE IS THAT OF PATRICK AND AMANDA’S DAUGHTER, MELISSA ELIZABETH HAYES GOREE, AND HER INFANT CHILD, WHO DIED DURING CHILDBIRTH IN 1865 AT THE GOREE FAMILY PLANTATION, RAVEN HILL, AND WERE LATER REINTERRED HERE. IT IS ALSO BELIEVED THAT HAYES FAMILY SLAVES AND SERVANTS WERE BURIED AT THE SITE, ALTHOUGH WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION HAS NOT BEEN FOUND.
PATRICK HAYES’ REMAINING CHILDREN AND LATER DESCENDANTS CHOSE TO BE BURIED IN THE NEARBY MIDWAY CEMETERY, AND THE HAYES CEMETERY BECAME INACTIVE, BUT REMAINS TODAY AS A SYMBOL OF AN EARLY PIONEERING TEXAS FAMILY.
HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2005.