John May Cemetery

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

MARKER IS PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.