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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published by Southern Publishing Company in 1891.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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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 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 memberof the Republican State Central Committee. He makes a specialty of real estate suits, and his ony 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.

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This family biography is one of 124 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Yell County, Arkansas published in 1891.  For the complete description, click here: Yell County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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