Henry May (American politician)

May was born in Washington, D.C., on February 13, 1816. He was a son of Dr. Frederick May (1773–1847) and Juliana Mathilda (née Slacum) May (1793–1822). His siblings included John Frederick May, William May, Julia Matilda (née May) Oelrichs (mother of Hermann Oelrichs, Charles May Oelrichs and Lucie Oelrichs Jay), Laura (née May) Wise (the wife of Gen. George D. Wise), and Julian S. May. His father, who was born in Boston, was a physician who spent nearly the last fifty years of his life practicing in Washington.{{cite book |last1=May |first1=John |title=Journal and Letters of Col. John May, of Boston: Relative to Two Journeys to the Ohio Country in 1788 and '89 ; with a Biographical Sketch |date=1873 |publisher=Robert Clarke & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx0UAAAAYAAJ |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Columbia |first1=Medical Society of the District of |title=History of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia: 1817-1909 |date=1909 |publisher=The Society |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ci-gAAAAMAAJ |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were Abigail (née May) May and Col. John May, who participated in the Boston Tea Party and became a prominent soldier in the American Revolutionary War.{{cite web |title=JOHN MAY (1748-1812), 1789 |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Portraits/bios/86.pdf |website=www.americanantiquarian.org |publisher=American Antiquarian Society |access-date=24 March 2021}}

He attended Columbian College (later George Washington University), also in Washington, D.C. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, and commenced practice.

In 1850, May was sent by President Franklin Pierce to Mexico to investigate claims under the United States' treaty of peace with Mexico. He moved to Baltimore, Maryland. In 1852, May was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress, serving one term from March 4, 1853 to March 3, 1855. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress, but was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 to March 3, 1863.

May sat in the special session of Congress held in summer 1861 after the outbreak of the Civil War.Allan G. Bogue, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eKxRahHwQQ8C&pg=PA65 "The Congressman's Civil War"], Cambridge University Press, 1989. In September 1861 May was arrested without charges or recourse to habeas corpus on suspicion of treason and held in Fort Lafayette.The Bastille in America; or Democratic Absolutism. London: Robert Hardwicke, 1861, p. 12.Mitchell, Charles W., ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LHkbTYE7D8gC&pg=PA237 Maryland Voices of the Civil War]. JHU Press, 2007, p. 237. (Lincoln had unilaterally suspended habeas in Maryland in spring 1861, a move ruled unconstitutional without Congressional authorization in June 1861 by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney in ex parte Merryman, a disputed ruling which Lincoln disregarded.) May was eventually released—no charges were ever brought or evidence produced—and returned to his seat in Congress in December 1861. In March 1862 he introduced a bill requiring the federal government to either indict by grand jury or release all other "political prisoners" held indefinitely without recourse to habeas.Jonathan White, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pNKB7PjdBl8C&pg=PT106 "Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman"], LSU Press, 2011. p. 106 The provisions of May's bill were included in the March 1863 Habeas Corpus Act in which Congress finally authorized Lincoln to suspend habeas corpus, but required actual indictments for suspected traitors.Jonathan White, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pNKB7PjdBl8C&pg=PT106 "Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John Merryman"], LSU Press, 2011. p. 107 The "political prisoners" affected included Baltimore newspaper editor, and vocal Lincoln critic, Frank Key Howard, who had been a co-prisoner with May, and was also a grand-nephew of Chief Justice Taney's wife Anne Key, (Francis Scott Key's sister).{{cite book|last1=Howard|author-link=Frank Key Howard|first1=F. K. (Frank Key)|title=Fourteen Months in American Bastiles|date=1863|publisher=H.F. Mackintosh|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/fourteenmonthsin00inhowa|accessdate=18 August 2014}}

In 1862, Henry May and Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham, an anti-war Democrat, led an investigation into telegraphic censorship of the press instituted by Lincoln's Secretary of State William H. Seward in certain cities.Allan G. Bogue, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eKxRahHwQQ8C&pg=PA65 "The Congressman's Civil War"], Cambridge University Press, 1989. p. 65

On November 29, 1845 May was married to Henrietta de Courcy (1820–1919) in Chester, Maryland.{{cite web |last1=Cox |first1=Nick |title=17TH CENTURY PORTRAIT OF ALMERIC DE COURCY 23RD BARON KINGSALE c.1690 - CIRCLE OF GODFREY KNELLER. |url=https://www.periodportraits.com/portrait-of-almeric-de-courcy-23rd-baron-kingsale-16641720-circle-of-godfrey-kneller |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210191717/https://www.periodportraits.com/portrait-of-almeric-de-courcy-23rd-baron-kingsale-16641720-circle-of-godfrey-kneller |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 10, 2021 |website=www.periodportraits.com |publisher=Period Portraits |access-date=24 March 2021 }} She was the daughter of William Henry de Courcy and Eliza Bond (née Rozier) de Courcy.{{cite book |title=Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book |date=1905 |page=133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RoaAAAAIAAJ |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en |last1=London) |first1=John Matthews (of }} Together, they were the parents of:{{cite web |title=U.S. Legislative Branch - -May Jr, Henry - U.S. Congressman, MD {{!}} Biographies of the Civil War |url=https://civilwartalk.com/threads/may-jr-henry-u-s-congressman-md.182240/ |website=civilwartalk.com |publisher=American Civil War Forums |access-date=24 March 2021}}

• Frederick DeCourcy May (1846–1893),{{cite news |title=Frederick May |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74274268/frederick-may/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=27 December 1893 |pages=8}}{{cite news |title=DEATH OF FREDERICK MAYPassed Away at a Watering Place on the Isle of Wight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74274832/death-of-frederick-maypassed-away-at-a/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=Janesville Daily Gazette |date=5 September 1893 |pages=2}} a surgeon who served in the Franco-Prussian War and, later, as president of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation; he married Cecilia Coleman.{{cite news |title=Death of Frederick May |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74274896/death-of-frederick-may/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=Evening Star |date=2 September 1893 |pages=16}}{{cite book |last1=Amory |first1=Cleveland |title=Who Killed Society? |date=1960 |publisher=Harper |pages=190, 578 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJx1AAAAMAAJ |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=O'Connor |first1=Richard |title=The Golden Summers: An Antic History of Newport |date=1974 |publisher=Putnam |isbn=978-0-399-11324-6 |pages=92, 94–95, 340 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzQlAAAAMAAJ |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=BENNETT AND MAY'S DUEL THE STORY THE FRIENDS OF MR. MAY TELL HIS FIRST CHOICE OF SABRES OBJECTED TO AND PISTOLS SUBSTITUTED--HIS OWN WEAPON ALLEGED TO HAVE MISSED FIRE, AND A RETURN FIRE BEING CONCEDED TO MR. BENNETT, THE LATTER DISCHARGED HIS PISTOL INTO THE AIR. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74274552/bennett-and-mays-duelthe-story-the/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=19 May 1878 |pages=7}}
• Rosalie May (1848–1922),{{cite news |title=DIED |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/01/08/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=8 January 1922}} who married John Sterett Gittings, the Treasurer of Maryland, in 1877.{{cite web |title=John Sterett Gittings, MSA SC 3520-1546 |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001500/001546/html/01546extbio.html |website=msa.maryland.gov |publisher=Maryland State Archives |access-date=24 March 2021}}
• Henry May (1854–1936), who married Isabel Theresa Coleman of New Jersey in 1881.{{cite book |title=District of Columbia: Concise Biographies of Its Prominent and Representative Contemporary Citizens, and Valuable Statistical Data ... |date=1908 |publisher=Potomac Press |page=317 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjRMAQAAIAAJ&dq=Isabel+Theresa+Coleman+May&pg=PA317 |access-date=24 March 2021 |language=en}}
• George May (1855–1931), who became a prominent Baltimore banker with Alex. Brown & Sons.{{cite news |title=GEORGE MAY DIES AT UNION MEMORIAL |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17651843/g-may-obit/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Evening Sun |date=20 March 1931 |pages=52}}
• Julia May (1859–1954), who married George Albert Bech, a son of Edward Bech, in 1887.{{cite news |title=WEDDING IN BALTIMORE.; A. BECH, OF NEW-YORK. BALTIMORE, Md, Feb. 16.--An event of |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1887/02/17/archives/wedding-in-baltimore-a-bech-of-newyork-baltimore-md-feb-16an-event.html |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=17 February 1887}} After Bech's death in 1890,{{cite news |title=OBITUARY. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1890/04/18/archives/obituary.html |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=18 April 1890}} she married William Babcock and moved to California.{{cite news |last1=Hendricks |first1=William |title=Mrs. Babcock's Hospital For Poor a Near Reality |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74278063/mrs-babcocks-hospital-for-poor-a-near/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=26 February 1956 |pages=21}}
• Lilian Marie May (1863–1958), who married William Bagot, 4th Baron Bagot, the Aide-de-Camp to the Governor General of Canada, in 1903.{{cite web |title=Bagot, Baron (GB, 1780) |url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/bagot1780.htm |website=www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk |publisher=Heraldic Media Limited |access-date=24 March 2021}}{{cite news |title=THE FUTURE LADY BAGOT |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74278455/the-future-lady-bagot/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=13 June 1903 |pages=6}}

He died on September 25, 1866, in Baltimore, and is interred in Cathedral Cemetery.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116004839/obsequies-of-the-late-hon-henry-may/ |title=Obsequies of the Late Hon. Henry May |date=1866-09-28 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2023-01-07}}{{Open access}}{{cite news |title=Meeting of the Bench and Bar in Reference to the Death of the late Hon. Henry May |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32888048/henry-may-tributes-1866/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=26 September 1866 |pages=1}} His widow died in Hove, Sussex in 1919.{{cite news |title=MRS. MAY'S WILL FILED |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74279086/mrs-mays-will-filed/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Evening Sun |date=9 July 1919 |pages=22}}{{cite news |title=SONS GET MAY ESTATEWill of Mother, Who Died in England, Filed For Probate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74279239/sons-get-may-estatewill-of-mother-who/ |access-date=24 March 2021 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=10 July 1919 |pages=8}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{CongBio|M000275}}

• {{find a Grave|7526826}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-hs}}

{{US House succession box | before=Alexander Evans | after=Henry William Hoffman | state=Maryland | district=5| years=1853–1855}}

{{US House succession box | before=Henry Winter Davis | after=Francis Thomas | state=Maryland | district=4| years=1861–1863}}

{{end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Henry}}

Category:1816 births

Category:1866 deaths

Category:George Washington University Law School alumni

Category:Maryland Unionists

Category:Unionist Party members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives