FRANKLIN L. MAY.
The late Franklin L. May, formerly one of the best-known residents of Greeley township, this county, was one of the men who did well his part in the upbuilding of Audubon county, and it is but fitting that in a review of the lives of the men who wrought so well, his name should be given a place.
Franklin L. May (deceased) was born in West Virginia on February 16, 1851, the son of Valentine and Elizabeth (Esbeck) May, both of whom were natives of Schluechtern, Germany, who came to the United States, landing at Baltimore in 1840 and located in West Virginia, where they remained until 1852, in which year the family came West, locating near Anamosa, Jones county, this state, where the parents spent the rest of their lives. They were the parents of eleven children: Mrs. Martha Canfield, Mrs. Elizabeth Burns, Mrs. Marguerite Heitchen, Mrs. Mary Wagoner, Nicholas, William Charles, Franklin L., James, Mrs. Parthenia Wagoner and Henry. Charles May came to this county in 1877, and in 1880 Franklin L. May came with his family, buying one hundred and twenty acres of land in sections 9 and 16 of Greeley township, on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in October, 1889. For the land which he bought he paid eight dollars an acre and it now is one of the best farms in the county.
On January 8, 1874, in Jones county, Iowa, Franklin I. May was united in marriage to Mary L. Howland, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, April 17, 1855, the daughter of George W. and Clarinda (Hall) Howland, natives of Ohio, who came to Iowa in 1868, locating in Linn county, later going to Texas, in which state the father and two children died within less than a vear, after which the mother returned to Iowa and made her home with her daughter, Mrs. May, the rest of her life. The Howlands were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. May was the eldest, the others being Albert, Mrs. Ellen Kelsey, Rufus, Louisa and Henry.
To Franklin L. and Mary L. (Howland) May were born six children, five of whom are living: Jennie, born on June 6, 1877, married Frank Myers, and has three children, Donald, Bernard and Albert L.; Albert, born on November 23, 1879, married Emma Myers and has six children, Gerald, Ellowene, Frank, Arnold, Oralees and Chester; Roxie, born on November 21, 1881, married Ralph Stanley and has four children, Dolliver, Wyman, Evelyn and Merlin; Marguerite, born on February 12, 1884, married Homer Beers and has one child, Bernice M., and Muriel, born on December 25, 1887, who married Orin Colee and has one child, Maxine.
Mr. May was a Democrat and took an earnest interest in local politics. For several years he served as township trustee and was instrumental in making many improvements during his administration. His widow is a member of the Methodist church and is a woman who is held in the highest regard among a large circle of acquaintances in her neighborhood. Her late husband was a good citizen and his community suffered a real loss at his death.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 437-438.
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