William May

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Descendants of William May

Generation No. 1

1. WILLIAM¹ MAY died 1757 in Spencer, Massachusetts. He married MARY SNOW¹ August 13, 1741 in Leicester, Massachusetts², daughter of DANIEL SNOW and MARY BANEY.

Marriage Notes for WILLIAM MAY and MARY SNOW:

Mary married second to Jacob Stoddard of Spencer. Mary was Jacob third wife.

More About WILLIAM MAY and MARY SNOW:

Marriage: August 13, 1741, Leicester, Massachusetts²

Children of WILLIAM MAY and MARY SNOW are:

i. RICHARD² MAY, b. December 04, 1743, Spencer, Massachusetts.

2. ii. SARAH MAY, b. September 16, 1751, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. June 25, 1824.

iii. MARY MAY, b. October 14, 1754, Spencer, Massachusetts.

3. iv. DAVID MAY, b. 1745, Spencer, Worcester, MA; d. Aft. 1790, Brattleboro, Windham, VT.

Generation No. 2

2. SARAH² MAY (WILLIAM¹) was born September 16, 1751 in Spencer, Massachusetts, and died June 25, 1824. She married LEMUEL GREEN October 17, 1771 in Leicester, Massachusetts³, son of NATHANIEL GREEN and TABITHA. He was born September 18, 1749 in Leicester, Massachusetts⁴, and died January 22, 1818 in Spencer, Massachusetts⁵.

Notes for LEMUEL GREEN:

He was the son of Nathaniel Green, minister of the Baptist society in Leicester, known by the name of "Elder Green." He was a soldier in the war of the revolution, and was wounded in a battle with the British army. He and his wife Sarah (May) came to the north part of lot (78).

More About LEMUEL GREEN and SARAH MAY:

Marriage: October 17, 1771, Leicester, Massachusetts⁶

Children of SARAH MAY and LEMUEL GREEN are:

i. MOLLY³ GREEN, b. January 23, 1773, Spencer, Massachusetts.

ii. ESTHER GREEN, b. October 26, 1774, Spencer, Massachusetts; m. JOSEPH BENNETT, April 17, 1800, Spencer, Massachusette.

More About JOSEPH BENNETT and ESTHER GREEN:

Marriage: April 17, 1800, Spencer, Massachusette

iii. EZRA GREEN, b. October 08, 1776, Spencer, Massachusetts.

iv. ANNA GREEN, b. January 09, 1779, Spencer, Massachusetts.

v. WILLIAM GREEN, b. October 13, 1780, Spencer, Massachusetts.

vi. SALLY GREEN, b. September 19, 1782, Spencer, Massachusetts.

vii. ELIJAH GREEN, b. December 10, 1785, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. January 25, 1810, Spencer, Massachusetts.

viii. BETSEY GREEN, b. June 22, 1788, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. May 17, 1823, Spencer, Massachusetts.

ix. JAMES GREEN, b. April 28, 1791, Spencer, Massachusetts.

x. WILLARD MOORS GREEN, b. May 26, 1796, Spencer, Massachusetts.

3. DAVID² MAY (WILLIAM¹)^7,8,9,10 was born 1745 in Spencer, Worcester, MA, and died Aft. 1790 in Brattleboro, Windham, VT. He married MARY STODDARD April 05, 1764 in Spencer, Worcester, MA, daughter of JACOB STODDARD and RACHEL. She was born March 25, 1739 in Spencer, Worcester, MA, and died 1782 in Vermont.

Notes for DAVID MAY:

He inherited the family homestead. David fought in the Revolution, he was a[ Matross], in Capt. David Henshaw's (10th) co., Col. Thomas Crafts's (Artillery) regt.; return for advance pay for 1 mouth, mileage from home to camp, etc., sworn to at Boston, Dec. 7, 1776; also, Private, same co. and regt.; service from Nov. 23, 1776, to Feb. 1, 1777, 2 mos, 7 days. [ Private], Capt. Josiah White's co., Lieut. Col. Benjamin Flagg's division, Col. Samuel Denny's (Worcester) regt.; marched Aug. 21, 1777dischaged Aug. 23, 1777,service, 5 days, including 2 days (40miles) travel home; company marched to Hadley on an alarm at the Northward; roll dated Spencer; also Capt. Josiah White's co., Col. Job Cushing's regt.; enlisted Sept. 5, 1777; discharged Nov. 29, 1777; service, 3 mos. 4 days, including 9 days (180 miles) travel home; company raised for 3 months and marched to reinforce Northern army under Gen. Gates. David May was later with the insurgents in Shays' Rebellion. During the winter of 1787 parties of the insurgents, under the command Daniel Shays [1747-1825], Wheller, Day and other leaders, traversed various parts of this and other western counties, to overawe the peaceable and loyal inhabitants of the state. For this purpose, a company of about 200 insurgents assembled at New Braintree, on the second day of February, one of whom was David May of Spencer. About twenty horsemen and 150 infantry in sleighs were sent to dislodge them. They were fired upon by the insurgents, and Doct. David Young and another person were wounded. Young afterwards commenced an action against May, and recovered large damages, which exhausted all his property in satisfying, so that he was obliged to sell his farm. He relocated to Brattleboro, VT where his brother-in-law had already settled. After four years he moved to Wilmington, Windham, VT.

"Notation in his great-grandson's journal says he died in 1829. He appears in Wilmington's 1820 census but is not in the 1830 census."

Shays's Rebellion, 1786-87

Armed insurrection by farmers in Western Massachusetts against the state government. Debt-ridden farmers, struck by the economic depression that followed the American Revolution, petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their own imprisonment for debt as a result of high land taxes. Sentiment was particularly high against the commercial interests who controlled the state senate in Boston, and the lawyers who hastened the farmers' bankruptcy by their exorbitant fees for litigation. When the state senate failed to undertake reform, armed insurgents in the Berkshire Hills and the Connecticut valley, under the leadership of Daniel Shays and others, began (Aug., 1786) forcibly to prevent the county courts from sitting to make judgments for debt. In September they forced the state supreme court at Springfield to adjourn. Early in 1787, Gov. James Bowdoin appointed Gen. Benjamin Lincoln to command 4,400 men against the rebels. Before these troops arrived at Springfield, Gen. William Shepard's soldiers there had repelled an attack on the federal arsenal. The rebels, losing several men, had dispersed, and Lincoln's troops pursued them to Petersham, where they were finally routed. Shays escaped to Vermont. Most of the leaders were pardoned almost immediately, and Shays was finally pardoned in June, 1788. The rebellion influenced Massachusetts's ratification of the U.S. Constitution; it also swept Bowdoin out of office and achieved some of its legislative goals.

See G. R. Minot, History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts in 1786 (1788, repr. 1971); R. J. Taylor, Western Massachusetts in the Revolution (1954, repr. 1967); M. L. Starkey, A Little Rebellion (1955); D. P. Szatmary, Shays' Rebellion (1980).

Marriage Notes for DAVID MAY and MARY STODDARD:

David's mother Mary remarried to Mary Stoddard's father.

More About DAVID MAY and MARY STODDARD:

Int.: Feb. 4, 1764, Leicester, Mass.

Marriage: April 05, 1764, Spencer, Worcester, MA

Children of DAVID MAY and MARY STODDARD are:

4. i. WILLIAM³ MAY, b. June 01, 1765, Spencer, Worcester, MA; d. January 28, 1823, Spencer, Worcester, MA.

ii. ESTHER MAY, b. July 04, 1767, Spencer, Worcester, MA.

iii. SAMUEL MAY, b. September 19, 1768, Spencer, Worcester, MA; m. LAURANY WARRINGER.

iv. PHEBE MAY, b. January 29, 1771, Spencer, Worcester, MA; m. JAMES WHITTEMORE.

v. SIBBIL MAY, b. May 27, 1773, Spencer, Worcester, MA.

vi. AMOS MAY, b. October 16, 1775, Spencer, Worcester, MA; d. February 17, 1848; m. ELIZABETH EASTERBROOK, Brattleboro VT.

More About AMOS MAY and ELIZABETH EASTERBROOK:

Marriage: Brattleboro VT

vii. EUNICE MAY, b. November 22, 1777, Spencer, Worcester, MA; m. ELIPHAZ STEARNS, Wardsboro, VT.

More About ELIPHAZ STEARNS and EUNICE MAY:

Marriage: Wardsboro, VT

viii. JOEL MAY, b. July 06, 1780, Spencer, Worcester, MA; m. SOPHIA MILLER.

ix. ABIGAIL MAY, b. August 28, 1782, Spencer, Worcester, MA.

Generation No. 3

4. WILLIAM³ MAY (DAVID², WILLIAM¹) was born June 01, 1765 in Spencer, Worcester, MA, and died January 28, 1823 in Spencer, Worcester, MA. He married POLLY SNOW June 26, 1788 in Leicester, Massachusetts. She was born in Leicester, Massachusetts.

Notes for WILLIAM MAY:

He had the homestead.

More About WILLIAM MAY and POLLY SNOW:

Marriage: June 26, 1788, Leicester, Massachusetts

Children of WILLIAM MAY and POLLY SNOW are:

i. POLLY⁴ MAY, b. December 20, 1789, Spencer, Massachusetts; m. LUKE TOWER, March 09, 1817, Spencer, Massachusette.

More About LUKE TOWER and POLLY MAY:

Marriage: March 09, 1817, Spencer, Massachusette

5. ii. ARTEMAS MAY, b. June 10, 1792, Spencer, Massachusetts.

6. iii. ASA MAY, b. January 25, 1794, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. January 12, 1838, Spencer, Massachusetts.

iv. AMASA MAY, b. May 11, 1796, Spencer, Massachusetts.

v. EDEN MAY, b. January 30, 1798, Spencer, Massachusetts.

vi. EMORY MAY, b. June 11, 1805, Spencer, Massachusetts.

vii. LIBERTY NELSON MAY, b. September 20, 1810, Spencer, Massachusetts.

viii. LOIZA MAY, b. July 04, 1802, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. December 20, 1804, Spencer, Massachusetts.

Generation No. 4

5. ARTEMAS⁴ MAY (WILLIAM³, DAVID², WILLIAM¹) was born June 10, 1792 in Spencer, Massachusetts. He married SALLY SNOW^11,12, daughter of JAMES SNOW and LYDIA MOORE. She was born February 16, 1802 in Spencer, Massachusetts, and died October 25, 1844 in Spencer, Massachusetts.

Children of ARTEMAS MAY and SALLY SNOW are:

i. ARTEMAS ALANSON⁵ MAY, b. April 04, 1825, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. January 10, 1826, Spencer, Massachusetts.

ii. GEORGE FORDICE MAY, b. February 02, 1822.

iii. LAFORICE MAY, b. October 17, 1819, Spencer, Massachusetts; d. June 09, 1843, Spencer, Massachusetts¹².

More About LAFORICE MAY:

Cause of Death: @ 23, [June 8, a. 24, G.S.I.] Brain disorder.

iv. MERCENDA MAY, b. July 07, 1827, Spencer, Massachusetts; m. LEWIS NEWTON, October 24, 1844, Spencer, Massachusette.

More About MERCENDA MAY:

Burial: Leicester, Massachusetts

More About LEWIS NEWTON and MERCENDA MAY:

Marriage: October 24, 1844, Spencer, Massachusette

6. ASA⁴ MAY (WILLIAM³, DAVID², WILLIAM¹) was born January 25, 1794 in Spencer, Massachusetts, and died January 12, 1838 in Spencer, Massachusetts¹². He married LYDIA MOULTON May 15, 1821 in Spencer, Massachusette.

More About ASA MAY and LYDIA MOULTON:

Marriage: May 15, 1821, Spencer, Massachusette

Children of ASA MAY and LYDIA MOULTON are:

i. CHLOE MARIE⁵ MAY, b. April 29, 1829, Spencer, Massachusetts¹².

ii. ISAAC MOULTON MAY, b. August 18, 1825, Spencer, Massachusetts.

iii. LOISA ANN MAY, b. June 10, 1822, Spencer, Massachusetts¹².

Endnotes

1. Roots web's World Connect Project.

2. History of Spencer, Mass. from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1860;including a Brief Sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753, by James Draper, pg 232.

3. Leicester, Mass. V.R. to 1850, pg. 157.

4. History of Spencer, Mass. from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1860;including a Brief Sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753, by James Draper, pg. 200.

5. Leicester, Mass. V.R. to 1850, pg. 42.

6. Leicester, Mass. V.R. to 1850, pg. 157.

7. Personal Records of T. Perham, Roots web's World Connect Project.

8. History of Spencer, Mass. from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1860;including a Brief Sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753, by James Draper, pg. 65.

9. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, a Compilation from the Archives, prepared and published by the Secretary of the Commonweal, pg. 374.

10. History of Spencer, Mass. from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1860;including a Brief Sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753, by James Draper, pg. 232 - 233.

11. History of Spencer, Mass. from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1860;including a Brief Sketch of Leicester, to the year 1753, by James Draper, pg. 252.

12. Spencer, Mass V.R.'s to 1849,