John William McKamey (1878-1955) was born in Salem, Arkansas, to John Samuel Monroe and Sarah Rebecca McKamey. His family valued education and moved four times so he could graduate from Baylor University with two diplomas in Military Science and Elocution on June 6, 1899. After graduating, he returned to Gregory, Texas, to help manage his father’s 2,000-acre cotton farm. In 1901, he married Maude Todd, whom he had met at Baylor. Seeking to expand, he and his brother Tunnell purchased lots in the Port Lavaca townsite and the Bay Trading Co. between 1905 and 1907. He also bought property and established Lynnworth Cemetery, now Port Lavaca Cemetery. During this period, several members of the McKamey family, along with J.B. McCampbell, purchased more than 8,000 acres that became known as the Kamey Community. In 1912, John and Maude moved from Port Lavaca to the Kamey Community, where they raised five children. John and the McKamey family raised cattle and farmed cotton and grain sorghum. A depot on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio railway provided transportation for McKamey goods to market. A post office for the family and farm employees operated from 1910 to 1915, and a one-teacher school served the community from 1910 to 1948. A general store, later called the Kamey Army Store, operated from 1914 to 2002. Generations of the McKamey family have continued to work the land and contribute to the area’s agricultural development.