FIFTH GENERATION

105. Martha Caroline Martin was born on 10 Jan 1828 in Marshall County, Tennessee. She died on 6 Jan 1898 in Leonard, Fannin County, Texas. She was buried in Burns Cemetery, Fannin County, Tennessee.

She was married to Daniel William May (son of Daniel May and Elizabeth Puckett) on 1 Oct 1845 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. Daniel William May was born on 28 Jun 1827 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. He appeared on the census on 25 May 1850 in Lawrence County, Tennessee.⁽¹²¹⁾ He appeared on the census in 1860 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. ⁽¹²²⁾ He appeared on the census on 1 Sep 1870 in Fannin County, Texas. ⁽¹²³⁾ He appeared on the census on 10 Jun 1880 in District #3, Fannin County, Texas.⁽¹²⁴⁾ He died on 28 May 1892 in Leonard, Fannin County, Texas. He was buried in Burns Cemetery, Fannin County, Tennessee. From the McConnell Book, Page 84:

Daniel W. May, Sr., died on his farm near Leonard, Texas, May, 1892, age sixty-five years. He entered the Confederate Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, enlisting in Co. B, 23rd Tennessee Infantry. He became Captain of the company and served until the reorganization of the Army. He then enetered the Cavalry in General Forrest's command, serving as Lieutenant, commanding a Company. He was captured in the latter part of 1863, and imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio, until the close of the war. He returned home and in 1870, he moved with his family to Fannin County, Texas, where he lived until his death.


From Fannin County Folks and Facts, 1977, Page 138:

ROBERT C. MAY

The May family came from Virginia. William May, born 1764 in Essex Co., Va., died April 4, 1844 in Polk Co., Tenn. He accompanied his father as water-boy and part time drummer-boy in the Revolutionary War and saw his father killed in action. He married 'Rhonda Atwater. Their son Daniel May was born April 16,1788. Daniel May married Rebecca Simmons and moved to Benton, Tenn. Their son Daniel William May was born June 28, 1827, died May 28, 1892 and is buried in Burns Cemetery, Trenton, Texas.

Daniel William May, Confederate soldier in the Civil War - one of the organizers of the Co. "B" 23rd Regiment, Infantry of Tenn. Volunteers, was promoted to Captain and fought under General Nathan Bedford Forrest. At the battle of Shiloh 1863 he was captured and spent the remainder of the war at prisoner Camp Chase in Ohio.

Daniel had married Martha Caroline Martin on May 10, 1846. After the war they and their children's families started to Texas, but late in the winter of 1869 the wagon train stopped at Trenton, Gibson Co., Tenn. Capt. Dan May had been a squire back in Pulaski Co. (roughly equivalent to a justice of the Peace) so he used political connections to get a temporary job as Superintendent of the Gibson Co. Poor Farm. There on Jan. 12,1870, their eleventh child, Robert Caredeth, was born. Bob May always joked that he was born on a poor farm and if his wife Mary didn't stop spending he would die on one!

As soon as Caroline was able to travel the wagon train continued on to Texas where Dan bought land between present day Trenton and Nobility. Martha Martin's family had immigrated to North Carolina. The first Martin there, Josiah Martin, was appointed Governor of North Carolina by England's King George III. Her father, James Martin, a fifth generation American married Elizabeth C. Finley Feb. 24, 1820, and Martha was born Jan. 20, 1828. She died in Leonard Jan. 6, 1898 and was buried in Burns Cemetery, Trenton.

Dan and Martha's children were: George H; Ann Elizabeth (Hickman); Daniel Jr. (Fannie Holcomb); Joseph, died age 23; Robert Caredeth. After Daniel's death Martha and her son Robert lived in Leonard.

As a young man Robert studied telegraphy in Missouri. At the time of his marriage to Mary Wright he was Postmaster at Leonard, a job he held for more than sixteen years. For several years he, also, was an insurance agent. In 1915 he bought The Leonard Graphic and published that paper until his death Nov. 29, 1934. His son, Donald, took over publication of the paper. Donald had been working after school and vacation times in his father's paper since becoming a printer's devil at the age of nine. Donald edited and published the Graphic until 1937 when he went to work for the Memphis Democrat. When he left, his mother published the Graphic until the May family sold the paper in 1949.

The May family was always active in church, civic and social activities of Leonard. Mary Wright May died in San Antonio July 28, 1957. She and Robert are buried in the Leonard Cemetery. Donald May



DANIEL WILLIAM MAY

Daniel William May, known to many as Captain Dan May, was born in Lawrence County, Tennessee in 1827, the son of Daniel May and Elizabeth Puckett. His parents were married in neighboring Maury County, Tennessee on April 27, 1820 by Rev. Thomas Hanks, a pioneer Baptist preacher. Daniel, Sr. had been married before and had at least two children by his first wife, whose name is unknown.

According to census records Daniel May, Sr. was born 1775-1780 in Virginia. He first appeared in Maury County on the 1811 tax list, along with Moses, Benjamin, Henry, and Peter May, who may have been his brothers. Military records indicate that he served in Steele's 4th Regiment West Tennessee Militia Infantry during the War of 1812. He lived in Maury County until after his marriage to Elizabeth, when they moved to Lawrence County and purchased land. They made their home in the eastern part of the county near the community of New Prospect, five miles east of Lawrenceburg. Today the Lawrenceburg airport is situated on May property.

Daniel, Sr. may have engaged in carpentry in addition to farming, since an inventory of his estate lists a number of tools that a carpenter might have used. Daniel, Sr. died in 1833, his will having been written in May and probated in October of that year. Named in his will in addition to his wife Elizabeth were heirs Hannah, James, Sarah, Frederick, Anny, Daniel, and George. Daniel's children by his first wife were:

1. Hannah May, born ca 1810. She married Jeremiah Burns and eventually moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, where she is believed to have died 1860-1867.

2. Frederick May, born 1810-1818 in Tennessee. He married Lovice Wright, daughter of Perrin Wright and Mary Horton, on September 19, 1833 in Lawrence County. Frederick died in Lawrence County 1880-1885.

3. James May was probably a son by Daniel's first wife and may have been born 1810-1815.

4. Sarah May, probably born 1810-1815 and most likely a daughter of Daniel's first wife.

Daniel's children by Elizabeth Puckett were:
5. Anny May, born ca 1822 in Lawrence County and believed to have been the "Mary Ann" May who married John P. Richardson, a Missionary Baptist preacher, on July 3, 1838 in Lawrence County. She died 1850-1860, probably in Lawrence County.

6. Daniel William "Dan" May, born June 28, 1827 in Lawrence County. He married Martha Caroline Martin October 1, 1845 in Lawrence County.

7. George H. May, born ca 1829 in Lawrence County.

After the death of Daniel May, Sr., Elizabeth Puckett May married Samuel H.
Dotson. Lawrence County records suggest the marriage took place sometime between 1834 and 1836. Samuel H. Dotson was born in June 1784 and died September 2, 1863 in Lawrence County. Samuel and Elizabeth had the following children:

1. Jasper N. "Jap" Dotson, born March 20, 1837 in Lawrence County. He married Martha A. Neale on December 18, 1858 and died February 2, 1922 in Fannin County.

2. John S. Dotson, born October 22, 1838 in Lawrence County, died December 25, 1851 in Lawrence County at the age of 13.

3. Frances Lucinda Dotson, born March 30,1841 in Lawrence County. She married John Cadwallader Neale January 3, 1856 and died December 21, 1873 in Tennessee.

Elizabeth Puckett lived a long life and survived two husbands. After the death of her daughter Lucinda, Elizabeth came with her Dotson kin to Fannin County in 1874. Elizabeth was born in Kentucky in January of 1800 and died in Fannin County October 6, 1890. According to her tombstone in the Leonard Cemetery, she was a faithful member of the Baptist Church for 75 years.

Dan May was only six years old when his father Daniel, Sr. died in 1833. Education must have been important to the family, because Dan and his younger brother George were both sent to school. Estate records indicate that Daniel received "four years schooling & boarding…commensing [sic] 25 December 1835 and ending 25 December 1839. $30 per year." Dan's favorite book was The Life of Francis Marion, by Morgan L. Weems. As an adult he could recite page after page that he had committed to memory while studying his lessons as a child.

Dan was 18 years old when he married Martha Caroline Martin in 1845. Raised on neighboring farms, Dan and Martha had probably known each other since childhood. Martha was born January 10, 1828, the daughter of James Martin and Elizabeth C. Finley. Martha's great-great-grandfather came to North Carolina from Pennsylvania in 1765, settling in what is now Gaston County. The exciting chronicles of this Presbyterian family are documented in the book, Genealogical History of the Families of McConnells, Martins, Barbers, Wilsons, Bairds, McCalls, & Morris, by Newton Whitfield McConnell, 1913.

After war broke out in 1861, thirty-four year old Dan helped to organize Company B, Infantry, 23rd Regiment Tennessee Volunteers, CSA, in Lawrence County, entering service as a 1st lieutenant and eventually achieving the rank of captain. His regiment would be involved in the conflict at Shiloh in April 1862. However, he soon discovered the long marches that were part of an infantryman's life were not for him, and by December 1862 he was serving as a private in Company D, Biffle's 9th Regiment Tennessee Cavalry. The 9th would see action in a number of battles, including the Confederate victory at Chickamauga in September 1863. In one of his cavalry exploits, he reported capturing an entire Ohio regiment without the loss of a single man to his company. He would eventually be promoted to the rank of 2nd lieutenant before being captured during an expedition near Lawrenceburg on November 17, 1863. He spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner at Camp Chase, Ohio, where on May 10, 1865 he took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States and was released from prison, after which he returned home to Tennessee.

Active in local politics before the war, Dan served as a justice of the peace in Lawrence County. He was also a member of the Lawrenceburg Masonic Lodge, where he served as worshipful master.

After the war, Dan and Martha left Lawrence County with their young family and started for Texas. They stopped for a time in Gibson County, Tennessee, where their youngest son was born and two other sons died. They were in Fannin County by June of 1870, where Dan bought a claim on University land and built a log cabin. Eventually they would settle on a farm near Bailey School House between present-day Trenton and Nobility. Children of Dan and Martha were:

1. George H. May, born in November 1846 in Lawrence County. He married 1st Mary Frances "Fannie" Bringle, daughter of Daniel Bringle of North Carolina, in 1866 in Giles County, Tennessee. His 2nd wife was said to have been Ella Brown, sister of Norman C. Brown who married George's sister, Mandy. A marriage record in Fannin County reveals that George H. May married Ellen Mills September 15, 1884. Ella Brown and Ellen Mills could possibly be the same person. George was said to have been an expert saddlemaker and may have lived in Bakersfield, California at one time. Census records indicate he was living in Jefferson County, Oklahoma in 1910 and 1920. In his Civil War pension application, George stated that he served in Company D, 9th Tennessee Cavalry, CSA. He died January 3, 1934.

2. Ann Elizabeth "Annie" May, born March 12, 1848 in Lawrence County. She married John McClerion Hickman in 1865 in Giles County, Tennessee and later moved to New Mexico.

3. Jane May, born in Tennessee, died in infancy.

4. James M. May, born ca 1856 in Lawrence County, died 1865-1870 in Gibson County, Tennessee.

5. John S. May, born ca 1857 in Lawrence County, died 1865-1870 in Gibson County, Tennessee.

6. Amanda C. "Mandy" May, born ca 1859 in Lawrence County. She married Norman Clyde Brown, son of Daniel Brown and Miss Scott, July 20, 1876 in Fannin County. They made their home in Orangeville.

7. Martha Caroline "Matt" May, born April 6, 1861 in Lawrence County. She married James Monroe Ready, son of Levin Goddard Ready and Mary Elizabeth Bates, February 8, 1877 in Fannin County. Martha died March 19, 1944 and is buried with her husband Jim in Burns Cemetery, Trenton, Texas.

8. Mary Frances "Fannie" May, born June 16, 1864 in Lawrence County. She married Joseph Harvey "Harv" Walker, son of W. C. Walker and Mary McAlister, January 1, 1880. She died March 22, 1957 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas. Harv and Fannie lived in Valley View, Texas.

9. Daniel William "Bill" May, born August 3, 1865 in Tennessee. He was married to Nancy Fannie Holcomb. He died September 11, 1897 near Pilot Grove of typhoid fever and is buried in Bethel Cemetery near Whitewright.

10. Joseph Lee May, born April 11, 1868 in Tennessee and died January 2, 1892 in Fannin County of pneumonia.

11. Robert Caredeth May, born January 12, 1870 in Gibson County, Tennessee. He married Mary Agnes Wright, daughter of Thomas Wright and Flora McTaggart, April 26, 1899 in Fannin County. In 1899 he was the postmaster at Leonard, a job he held for more than 16 years. In 1915 he bought The Leonard Graphic and published that paper until his death on November 29, 1934. He and wife Mary are buried in the Leonard Cemetery.

Dan and Martha spent their remaining years in Fannin County. One family member recalled that in their later years Martha kept Dan's clothes washed and starched, so that he always looked his best as he sat on his porch with his dog Toby.

In an article written for The Trenton Tribune in the early 1900s, Dr.W. C. Holmes reported that Dan's neighbors often encouraged him to run for the legislature, but he would always answer, "I have too much sense for that." Dr. Holmes observed that Dan May was a successful man in everything he attempted and proved to be "a true husband, father, citizen and lover of a republican form of government."

Dan May died May 28, 1892, one month before his 65th birthday. Martha died January 6, 1898. Both lie buried with their son Joseph Lee in Burns Cemetery near Trenton.

Submitted by Connie McLarry Ausec
Spring, TX
causec@ev1.net


Martha Caroline Martin and Daniel William May had the following children:

+212 i. George H. May.
+213 ii. Ann Elizabeth May.
214 iii. Jane May was born about 1854. She died about 1855.
215 iv. James M. May was born in 1856 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. He died about 1867 in Gibson County, Tennessee.
216 v. John S. May was born in 1859 in Lawrence County, Tennessee.
217 vi. Thomas May.
+218 vii. Amanda Catherine May.
+219 viii. Martha Caroline May.
+220 ix. Mary Francis May.
+221 x. Daniel William May.
222 xi. Joseph L. May was born on 11 Apr 1868 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. He died on 2 Jan 1892.
+223 xii. Robert Caredeth May.