Hays Cemetery in Missouri - Find a Grave Cemetery

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Get directions St. Charles County, Missouri, USA

Coordinates: 38.62452, -90.82482
Cemetery ID:

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The Hays Cemetery is a small family cemetery created by the family of Daniel Boone Hays, grandson of famous explorer Daniel Boone, on property received by the Boones as a Spanish Land Grant in 1799. The area was settled by many Boone family members and friends who emigrated from Kentuck together. The town was known as "Missouriton" and Daniel Boone presided as Spanish Commandant for the Femme Osage region, which included Missouriton. Boone dispensed justice at the Judgment Tree, which is two miles southeast of the cemetery location, on present-day Hwy 94.

According to Carrol Geerling and Lucille Wittenborn Wiechens, who wrote the five-volume Cemeteries of St. Charles County, Missouri (1988), the cemetery contains the oldest known surviving grave marker in the St. Charles County, dating to 1817. Prior to 1817, graves in the area were marked with wooden crosses, which have not survived.

The cemetery is near the Daniel Boone Hays Home, 3572 Stub Rd., Hwy. F Defiance, MO 63341. The Hays Home has recently been restored and opened for public tours. The home and cemetery are both within Matson Hill Park, a St Charles County park which is open to the public.

The cemetery is in a wooded area 450 feet west of Stub Road and 850 northwest of the Hays Home. The cemetery is marked with signage and fencing; parks staff can help with locating it if you have difficulty.