Horacio N. May was a volunteer firefighter, coffee and tea merchant, and politician whose wife created a memorial chapel in his honor. In 1891 he was appointed the Chicago Controller and also served as a Lincoln Park Commissioner.
Although May died October 1,1898 in Germany, possibly of influenza, his wife, Anna Wilson May, returned his body to Chicago to be buried in Rosehill on October 17. One of his honorary pallbearers was Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln.
Horatio and Anna are buried outside of the chapel to the right of the front porch when you are facing the door.
The chapel, designed by Joseph Lyman Silsbee, was created as a lasting memorial by Anna May for her husband. In the back of the chapel is the Receiving Vault for Rosehill. Long ago, bodies were stored here when the ground was too frozen to dig graves, or while a family mausoleum was under construction. It was also used to keep bodies while the Rosehill Mausoleum (completed in 1914) was being built, so that people who had purchased space in the unfinished mausoleum would not have to be reburied. It is usually kept locked but you can see photos of the inside at this wonderful blog by Jim Craig: http://undereverystone.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-man-who-had-chapel-named-for-him.html
