Slaves of Joseph B May Sr

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Pike, Mississippi, United States
Surnames/tags: slavery black_heritage

This page's purpose is to document the slaves held by Joseph B. May, Sr., in order to help connect their relatives and descendants. Please feel free to add to the research below.

1820 Census

Pike, Mississippi. 1820 entry.(name mistranscribed on Ancestry.com as Tom May Senior. It says "Jos. May Sen.r".

Home in 1820 (City, County, State): Pike, Mississippi^[1]

Slaves - Males - Under 14: 4
Slaves - Males - 14 thru 25: 1
Slaves - Females - Under 14: 5
Slaves - Females - 14 thru 25: 1
Slaves - Females - 26 thru 44: 1
Slaves - Females - 45 and over: 1
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture: 8
Free White Persons - Over 25: 4
Total Free White Persons: 5
Total Slaves: 13
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other: 18

Research Notes

• To find out what happened to these 13 enslaved people, it would be useful to see which among his children also owned slaves. Joseph died in 1829. His son Hiram May had 7 slaves in 1840, also in Pike County, and I haven't found an 1830 census for him.

In the 1840 census, enslaved individuals are enumerated in the following mens entry with the last name of May:

• Ethelred May (33 enslaved individuals, 5 boys under 10)
• Green May (14 enslaved individuals, 5 boys under 10)
• John May (15 enslaved individuals)
• Joseph May (15 enslaved individuals)
• Hiram May (?2 enslaved individuals)

The following seventeen non-white men with the last name of May are in Mississippi in 1870 (there are more if you include Mayes and Mays). They may have been enslaved by the May family:

• Alford May (b 1835) in Hinds County in 1870
• Nedd May (b 1835) in Noxubee County in 1870
• Pleasant May (b 1835) in Copiah County in 1870
• Elie May (b 1835) in Copiah County in 1870
• Jerry May (b 1835) in Brookhaven, Lincoln County in 1870
• Dannie May (b 1837) in Amite County in 1870
• Wade May (b 1837) in Copiah County in 1870
• Wisdom May (b 1833) in Copiah County in 1870
• Martin May (b 1838) in Copiah County in 1870
• Willis May (b 1831) in Jefferson County in 1870
• Samuel May (b 1831) in Macon, Noxubee County in 1870
• Samuel May (b 1830) in Clarke County in 1870
• Burrell May (b 1830) in Noxubee County in 1870
• John May (b 1840) in Yazoo County in 1870
• Gorn May (b 1830) in Grenada County in 1870
• Francis May (b 1840) in Grenada County in 1870
• James May (b 1832) in Grenada County in 1870

Sources

1. ↑ 1820 Census: "1820 United States Federal Census"
   1820 U S Census; Census Place: Pike, Mississippi; Page: 90; NARA Roll: M33_58; Image: 122
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7734 #1318467 (accessed 25 January 2022) Tom May Senior.