May, Calvin D.

MAY, OLNEY, SMITH, GREENSLIT

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 1/28/2003 at 19:02:49

CALVIN D. MAY (with photograph)

Prominent among the business men of Clinton is Calvin D. May, who for fourteen years has been closely identified with the history of the city as a representative of its financial interests. He is a man of discrimination and sound judgment, and his executive ability and excellent management have brought to the concern with which he is connected a large degree of success. He is the cashier of the Merchants National Bank of Clinton, and the conservative policy which he and the other officers and directors have inaugurated commends itself to the judgment of all, and has secured to the institution a patronage which makes the volume of business transacted over its counters of great importance and magnitude.

Mr. May was born in Belvidere, Illinois, March 26, 1859, a son of Ezra and Lovisa (May) May. On the paternal side the ancestry can be traced back to the year 1640, when John May, the founder of the family in America, left his home in Sussex, England, and crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He was commander of a vessel known as The James. On taking up his abode in this country he located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, where he spent his remaining days and died, his remains being interred in the Eustis street burying ground there. He passed away in 1670, at the advanced age of eighty years. His son John and his grandson John lie side by side with him in this cemetery. Lieutenant Nehemiah May was a son of John May, last named, and grandson of Captain John May, and was born June 28, 1701.He served in the early Indian wars, and died May 6, 1753. His son, Colonel Ezra May, who was born December 16, 1731, loyally aided the colonies in the struggle for independence, and died January 11, 1778. Dr. Calvin D. May was the next in the line of direct descent.

Ezra May, his son, and the father of the well-known bank cashier of Clinton, was born at Phillipsburg, Vermont, November 6, 1813, and in 1840 went to Michigan City, Indiana, whence he removed to Cherry Valley, Illinois, the same year. The following year he took up his residence in Belvidere, where he remained until his death, which occurred April 6, 1895. He was engaged in merchandising and milling for many years, and also became interested in banking, being president of the Second National Bank, while at the time of his death he was one of the directors of the First National Bank. He also made judicious investments in farm lands and other real estate, at the time of his death being the largest land owner in the county. His wife was a descendant of Dexter may, a brother of Colonel Ezra May. She was born October 17, 1819, and died September 19, 1862. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children: Mary and Polly, both deceased; Ella, the wife of A. R. Olney, of Clinton; Florence M., wife of B. W. Smith, of Jacksonville, Illinois; Clara, who married A. C. Greenslit, of Belvidere, Illinois; Ezra, who has passed away; Calvin; and Stephen D., a lawyer of Chicago.

In the place of his nativity Calvin D. May spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and after completing his preliminary education in the common schools entered the high school and was graduated in 1877. He began his business career as an employe in the First National Bank of Belvidere, where he remained for two years, after which he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, spending one year in the high school there, at the expiration of which period he entered the University of Michigan, and was graduated from the literary department in 1884. Subsequently he read law with the firm of Peckham & Brown, and was graduated in the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, with the class of 1886. The same year he was admitted to the bar in Washtenaw county, Michigan, and subsequently was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the same state.

In 1887 Mr. May came to Clinton, and when the Merchants National Bank was organized he was made assistant cashier, serving in that capacity until 1896, when he became cashier. He is interested in other financial and business affairs in Clinton and also at his old home in Belvidere, where his father had extensive realty holdings (blank) has excellent business force, strong determination and enterprise, and is thus capable of successfully controlling his affairs and increasing his property.

Mr. May is a prominent Mason, belonging to Emulation Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Keystone Chapter, Holy Cross Commandery, K.T.; De Molay Consistory, S. P. R. S., and to the El Kahir Temple of the Mystic Shrine, of Cedar Rapids. He likewise belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star and is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of which he has served as exalted ruler; and the Red Men. In his political affiliations he is a Democrat, and from 1892 until 1897 he served as a member of the city council from the Second ward, during which time many of the permanent improvements were made, most of the city paving laid, the fire-alarm system installed, Chancy and Lyons annexed, Clinton park improved, and the city hall built. He is prominent in political, business and social circles in Clinton, and his labors have promoted the general welfare of the community. His upright principles and trustworthiness have won him the confidence of all with whom business relations have brought him in contact, while his general manner and unfailing courtesy have gained him many warm friends.
Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.