John May

(November 24, 1748 – July 16, 1812) 

An upstart merchant in Boston, John May was a newlywed with a young son born a month prior to the Boston Tea Party. 

According to the book Tea Leaves, written in 1884 by historian Francis S. Drake, on the afternoon of December 16, 1773, May was with his wife for a quick meal when they were interrupted by a knock on the window. He left, and “returned late, tired and uncommunicative.” The following morning, tea was reportedly found on the floor and in his shoes.  

May initially supported the Revolutionary War as an Adjutant in the Boston Regiment of the Massachusetts militia. He was promoted to the rank of Major on May 5, 1780, by the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In that capacity, he was part of the reinforcements to the Continental Army in Boston for three months of that year as part of Colonel Ebenezer Thayer’s regiment.  

After the war, May ventured twice to the “Ohio Country,” in 1788 and 1789. He kept journals of his explorations that his grandson, Richard S. Edes, excerpted in an article published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register in January 1873. It is said that John May built the first frame house near what is now Marietta, Ohio. Even during his Ohio adventures, May was still active in the civic life of Boston. From 1785 to 1895, he served as a fire warden. Once permanently settled back in Boston, he was elected a Selectman from 1804 until the year of his death. 

John May died in Boston, MA, on July 16, 1812.  He is buried in Central Burying Ground in Boston, MA.