Tuttle Family | Rathbun Family | May Genealogy Home
This
is a MayKid Family History for Gerald May's progeny,
Compiled by the Current Patriarch and Fine Fisherman.
Updated April 14, 2003
Apologies for the patrilineality.
Also, lots of photos here... give them time to load
All the photos below are thumbnails--click on them for full size pictures.
May Family
Ancestry of Earl Tuttle May
It seems certain that the Mayboyz of our line came from England. Although a direct connection hasn't yet been made, they possibly came from Mayfield, in Sussex County about 40 miles south of London. The Mayfield May's were reported to have been sheriffs there, and may have originally come to England from Portugal.1
NEW:
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The earliest May in our line that I have definite records on is Isaac
May. To put him in context, Isaac is the great grandfather of Earl
T. May and the great-great grandfather of Pat May and Gerald May. Isaac
was a farmer who showed up in the Brooke County, West Virginia marriage
records as marrying Aseneth Porterfield on April 1, 1825 (an appropriate
date). Brooke County is in the little panhandle area of West Virginia that
lies between Pennsylvania and Ohio. It was first a part of Ohio, then Virginia,
and finally (after Isaac's time) West Virginia.1a
We don't know accurate birth or death dates for Isaac, nor where he came from before he landed in Brooke County. The earliest date is the marriage. Then there's a court record of Isaac purchasing 94 acres of land on Cross Creek on Nov. 4, 1829 for $915.
Isaac and Aseneth had three sons: Leysander, Jason and Milton. Milton is our direct ancestor. We don't have good birth dates for the other two boys, but Milton was born January 30, 1829, a few months before Isaac bought the Cross Creek land. Court records from Jefferson County Ohio indicate that Isaac was dead by 1836 and that Aseneth died in the same year or at the most a year later. We don't know the cause of their deaths. Their boys were left as orphans; Milton would have been about 7 when his parents died.
The three boys were taken in by John F. and Lewis Browning, who had apparently been close friends of Isaac and Aseneth and presumably lived across the Ohio River in Jefferson County. John F. Browning was the administrator of Isaac and Aseneth's estates, and Lewis Browing was appointed guardian for the boys, caring for them until 1849-50, when they turned 21.
It appears that Jason and probably Leysander moved back across the river
to Brooke County and took up farming there.
As we'll see below, the young Milton immediately took off for California
in the Gold Rush. After returning (essentially emptyhanded) he settled
in Delaware Township, Hancock County, Ohio, near the town of Mount Blanchard.
On September 15, 1853, he married Sara Louisa
Smith (1836-1918),
the daughter of Abijah and Sarah Smith, originally from Connecticut. He
died in 1913.
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The 1886 Illustrated History of Hancock County, Ohio (Chicago, Warner, Beers & Co.) contains the following paragraph on Milton May (p. 706):
"MILTON MAY, farmer, P.O. Mount Blanchard, was born in Brooke County, Va. (now West Virginia), January 30, 1829. In 1850 he went with the gold hunters to California and remained there six months; during this time he had a severe attack of mountain fever. He decided to return to his native county, and leaving San Francisco, with only one dime in his pocket, he worked before the mast for his passage to Panama, and arriving there, engaged at carpenting for two months, then crossed the Isthmus to Chagres, and shipped for New Orleans, being promoted on the voyage to second mate. Arriving in New Orleans, he made his way up the Mississippi River to Steubenville, Ohio, and in the spring of 1852, he came to Delaware Township, this county, where he had previously acquired a tract of land. This land he now began clearing up and improving, and September 15, 1853, he married Sarah Louisa Smith, daughter of the pioneer Abijah Smith, and they located in their present home in Delaware Township, this county, in the spring of 1857; here they have a fine farm of eighty-one acres of well improved land; they also own a tract of 137 acres in Delaware and Amanda Townships, this county. Mr. and Mrs. May have two children: Dr. A. S. May, in Donaldson, Marshall Co., Ind., and Lewis B., at home. Mr. May is a member of the Methodist Church, Mrs. May of the Presbyterian."As to Sarah Louisa Smith's ancestors, her father Abijah was one of the Delaware County Ohio pioneers. 1875 Illustrated History of Hancock Co, OH. page 24 under Delaware Twp says: "Abijah Smith was born in Connecticut, in the year 1796, the son of Solomon and Susanna Smith." Pg 31 says "Abijah Smith came to Hancock Co. --1834 ; nativity--Connecticut; business--farmer; residence--Delware Twp." On map of Delaware Twp, same book: pg. 108. "Section 6. A.B. Smith has 82 acres. M. May has 81 acres directly south of Smith's acreage." 2
A page from Milton's 1860 Accounts indicating he not only went to Sunday School but also invested a good deal in tobacco, whiskey and brandy. |
Milton and Sarah had three children: (they may have had a fourth, a daughter who died in infancy): Lewis Browning May (b. ca. 1851), A.S. May (who was probably a doctor), whose first name may have also been Abijah, (1854-1904) and who was in Donaldson, Marshall Co, IN, when the 1886 History of Hancock Co. came out., and Arch W. May (July 2, 1860-April 2, 1910). It's pretty clear that Milton felt a great deal of affection for Lewis Browing, who had been his surrogate father for 14 years. He named his firstborn son after him. And it is Lewis who is our ancestor.
In about 1872, Lewis married Emma Tuttle (see Tuttle Family History if you dare). She was 16, he 21. Lewis taught school and later was a school superintendant and Justice of the Peace. He also ran a general store in Mount Cory, Ohio. (I met a man in Mt. Cory who remembered Lewis and the store. He said Lewis kept a parrot in the store. He also recalled his father asking Lewis why a pair of gloves cost more in his store than they did in Findlay. Lewis reportedly said, "Because these gloves are here, and those are in Findlay.")
Lewis and Emma had two children: Myrtle, who died at age 8 mos, and Earl Tuttle May, who was born in January 1880 and died in July, 1949.
Lewis, Emma and Earl May
ca. 1888
Lewis, Emma, Myrtle, Earl, and Earl's second wife Marjorie are all buried at Clymer Cemetery outside Mt. Cory.
Outside Mt. Blanchard, the Delaware Twp. Cem. Bk., under Mt. Blanchard
Cemetery, 1st Add., row 10 shows: "Dr. A.S. May 1854-1904,
Milton May 1829-1913, Sarah (wife) 1836-1918"
Page 47 of the same book says that in the Old Section, row 8 at the
end, is buried "Arch W. May, son of Milton & Sarah Louisa,
2 Jul 1860- 4/2/10, buried by his grandparents, Abijah and Sarah Smith."
Earl and his first wife, Matie, had six children: Ruth, Rollo, Dorotha, Yona, Don, and Pat (Louis). Earl and Matie were subsequently divorced.
Earl was for many years a District Secretary for the YMCA in Michigan.
He was an outdoorsman, guiding fishing trips to Isle Royale, Michigan's
Upper Penninsula, and Canada. He also set up several camps for the Methodist
Church.
The Fishing Genes are Firmly in Place
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Earl then married Marjorie Luella Rathbun:
 Marjorie
Luella Rathbun was born Luella Marjorie Rathbun Dec 28, 1907 in Fairfield
Twp., Lenawee Co, Michigan, the daughter of Harvey C. Rathbun and Luella
C. Sanford. In later life after Earl's death, she remarried Samuel
A. ("Yowzers") Kintner but she is buried with Earl at Clymer Cemetery.
She died March 24, 1989.
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CLICK HERE FOR THE RATHBUN LINEAGE
(Not Completed Yet)
Earl and Marjorie had one son, yours truly, Gerald Gordon (b. Jun 12, 1940, Hillsdale, Michigan).
Beaver Island |
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before Earl's death. |
And on June 23, 1962, he and Elizabeth Jane Clark were married:
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Betty was born Sept. 15, 1940 in Brooklyn, NY, the daughter of Wendell Justin Clark and Pauline Chamberlain.
and Betty and Jerry begat Earl, Paul, Greg, and Julie... and Earl and Paul have done some of their own begatting, and the rest is history to be continued.
Links and E-mail
Here's Greg's Clown site (http://www.profools.com).
Here's the current, extant Earl May's family web site.
Here's Paul May's family web site.
Here's some more web stuff from Jerry.
Acknowledgments
1a I am indebted to the following for helping me trace the history of Isaac and Aseneth May: Dale Patterson, Gwen Hubbard, and Sandy Day. Records obtained from Jefferson County Courthouse, Steubenville, Ohio and Brooke County Court, Wellsburg, WV.
2 Many many thanks to Suzanna Wells for much of the Hancock County, Ohio information, including the 1875 and 1886 History of Hancock County excerpts and the Delaware Township Cemetery records.
3 Some of
the early Tuttle information was gained from Sybil Smith's article, "What
is it With Those Tuttles?," Ancestry, Vol 13, No. 3, May-June, 1885.