YELL COUNTY, AR - HON. WILLIAM N. MAY - Bio

SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas. 
Chicago: Goodspeed Publishers, 1891.

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Hon. William N. May, one of the representative judges of Dardanelle, 
and known as a man of high moral character, and in no way belittling 
his reputation for strict integrity and uprightness, was born in 
Carroll County, Tenn., January 12, 1827, and is the son of William 
May, a farmer, born in Anson County, N. C., and Mary Amma King, born 
in Humphreys County, Tenn., in 1810, the daughter of James and 
Isabella King; she departed this life in Johnson County, Ark., in 
1855, leaving a family of ten children to the care of her husband. 
The paternal grandfather was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, 
and some of his sons fought in [p.169] the War of 1812. 

Judge May spent his boyhood days on a farm, and being exceptionally 
bright and intelligent, and very fond of books and study, he took a 
four years' course in the academy of Hardeman County, Tenn., 
mathematics, history and grammar being his specialties. In his youth 
he formed the idea of becoming a merchant, and with this object in 
view, accepted the positions of clerk in Clarksville and Danville, 
winning an unenviable business reputation, and at the expiration of 
three years, partly on credit, and partly with money furnished by 
himself and partner, he established a mercantile business at 
Danville, which he conducted for eight years, when he retired, worth 
$5,000. 

Purchasing books, he began the reading of law, under preceptors, and 
in 1857 was admitted to the bar in Danville, and in 1858 came to 
Dardanelle, making it his permanent home. He has a large and 
extensive practice, practicing in the circuit, supreme and federal 
courts of the State, and in 1868 was elected to the Arkansas 
Legislature, and during his term of office introduced several bills, 
which passed and became statute laws; was chairman of the committee 
on rules, and on July 23, while still a member of the Legislature, 
he received an appointment from Gov. Clayton, as judge of the Sixth 
Judicial Circuit of the State, filling this office acceptably and 
well for many years. July 8, 1874, he tendered his resignation to 
Gov. Baxter, who refused to accept it, thus obliging him to remain 
in office till the ensuing election, which took place November 10, 
1874, since which date he has served as school director, and was a 
member of the Republican State Central Committee. 

He makes a specialty of real estate suits, and his only decision 
ever carried to the United States Supreme Court was sustained, it 
being on the question, Whether a note given for negroes in 1859 was 
collectible under the constitution of 1868. At the outbreak of 
hostilities between the North and South, the Judge, with a number of 
others, being obliged to leave Arkansas, removed his family to 
Chicago, where they sojourned for eighteen months, and while here, 
busied himself in compiling a digest of the reports of the Supreme 
Courts of Arkansas, arranging the work in twenty-two volumes. After 
the surrender, and peace once more reigned, he returned to 
Dardanelle, and resumed his practice, which brought him an income of 
between $5,000 and $6,000 a year. 

In March, 1864, he received an appointment as commissioner of 
election of Yell County from Gov. Murphy, and in April, 1868, the 
same executive commissioned him circuit judge, but he never 
qualified. Commencing life with scarcely $100, he now owns a very 
fine residence in Dardanelle, worth $12,000, and 7,000 acres of land 
in Yell and adjoining counties, including much valuable river bottom 
land. 

Judge May has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Martha 
C. Perry, born in Tennessee, and daughter of Jeremiah Perry, a 
planter, and native of North Carolina, to whom he was married in 
Yell County, February 10, 1853, and who died in 1857, leaving one 
child, Martha Cherry (born in this county November 6, 1857). On 
April 2, 1860, he took for his second wife, Mary A. E. Hust, of 
Montgomery County, Tenn. 

In his early political career the Judge was a Democrat, but during 
the progress of the Rebellion, he became a Republican of the most 
pronounced type, and was a firm friend and stanch supporter of Gov. 
Clayton, when serving as governor and United States Senator. 
Socially, he is a Master Mason, being initiated into the mysteries 
of the Danville Lodge No. 41, in the year 1851, and has been an 
honored official, filling all the chairs in this society, and in 
1854 was a member of the Grand Lodge. 

In religion, his parents being strict members of the Methodist 
Church, he was raised in that belief, joining the church when eleven 
years old, and is now serving as steward of that denomination, and 
in July, 1881, he was chosen as lay delegate to represent his church 
in the general conference. The Judge is held in high esteem 
throughout the community, and is noted for the hospitable and 
unostentatious manner of entertainment of his guests, which are 
many.