Birth, etc. |
Matilda Long was born 27 April 1836, according to
her tombstone in the New Hope Cemetery in Leander, Texas. She married Milton
May in Caldwell County on October 17, 1853. The marriage was performed by
L.C.
Sims. The marriage is not in the record books in the County Clerks's office
as of February 1995. The marriage license was, however, recently discovered
in the attic of the Caldwell County courthouse. Matilda was the eighth child of William F. Long and Mary Elizabeth Black. Enid Long Barker's Record names child number eight of William F. Long as "Matilda May Long. Lived in Cedar Park." Cedar Park is an area of Williamson County, Texas, just south of the town of Leander. That is the general part of Williamson County to which the May family moved from Caldwell County. One of Enid Long Barker's sources was Lizzie Rowe Jeffrey, daughter of Amanda Long Rowe. Lizzie Rowe Jeffrey would have known she had an aunt named Matilda May who had lived at Cedar Park. Matilda had moved her family to Cedar Park about 1867, when Lizzie was about twelve years old. There was probably very little contact after that. Matilda had been dead about thirty years by the time the information was collected. | ||||||||||||||||
Milton died at Milliken's Bend |
Matilda's husband was Milton Caldwell MAY. Milton
enlisted May 28, 1862, in Company K 17 Texas Volunteer Infantry. The Captain
of Company K was Samuel J. P. McDowell. The First Lieutenant of Company K was
James B.
Long. Milton May was killed at the Battle of Millican's Bend on June
7, 1863. Matilda May received a letter from her brother James telling of Milton's
death. He reported that there were "six killed in our company". He wrote, "As
a last request of Milton I promise to write to you as he had no opportunity of
writing when he left with the command. I was left behind very sick." The
muster roll for James B. Long for July and Aug 1863 shows him present but sick.
A report of the Battle at Milliken's Bend by C. A. Dana says, "At the Bend, the battle began soon after daybreak and lasted about 3 hr... General Dennis describes the battle as the hardest he has ever seen. It was fought mainly hand to hand. After it was over, many men were found dead with bayonet stabs, and others with their skulls broken open by butts of muskets." | ||||||||||||||||
Williamson County, Texas |
After the war, Milton's parents moved to Williamson
County, Texas. Four of his sisters had lost their husbands in the war and
they moved there with new husbands. Matilda did not remarry until nine years
after Milton's death. At that time she married Alfred B. Hicks, who lived
only a year or two after their marriage. She apparently went back to using
the name MAY. By 1870, Matilda and her four children were living in Williamson County next to Milton's sisters Emeline, Margaret and Caroline and near Elizabeth, all widowed by the war and remarried. Emeline had married Jeremiah Franklin Jeffrey, then Jacob Hellums. Margaret was first Mrs. Archibald Loftis, then Mrs. Nathan Jeffrey. Caroline first married James M. Jeffrey, then Allen Stoker. Elizabeth married Joseph A. Carpenter, then John B. Jeffrey. | ||||||||||||||||
Children |
Matilda is buried in the New Hope Cemetery in
Leander, Texas. Her tombstone reads: MATILDA MAY born 27 April 1836 died
27 Sept 1903. Milton and Matilda had four children:
|