Charles S. May

Charles S. May, 1874

Charles Sedgwick May (March 22, 1830 - March 25, 1901) was a politician from the U. S. state of Michigan.

Early life

May was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts and at the age of four moved to Richland, Michigan. He worked there on a farm until the age of fifteen and became a student of the State University (now Western Michigan University) at Kalamazoo. He studied law in Bennington, Vermont and Battle Creek, Michigan and was admitted to the bar in 1854.

From November 1855 to October 1856, he was associate political editor of the Detroit Daily Tribune and its Washington, D. C. correspondent. He commenced the practice of law in Battle Creek, but soon returned to Kalamazoo where he was elected prosecuting attorney in 1860. In 1861, he resigned to raise a company for the second Michigan infantry, went into the field, but resigned due to ill health after taking part in many battles.

Politics

In 1862, May was elected the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan and served from 1863 to 1865. His brother Dwight May was elected to the same office two years later. The following year he was a member of the 1866 Republican state convention. In 1872, he broke party ranks and supported Democrat Horace Greeley for U. S. President against the re-election of Ulysses S. Grant and was a losing Democratic candidate for U. S. Senate in 1876. He then practiced law in Detroit and later returned to practice law in Kalamazoo.

Retirement and death

In 1888, May retired due to ill health and built a country home, “Island View”, overlooking Gull Lake where he would write several newspaper and magazine articles and several books. He died there just three days after his seventy-first birthday.

References

• Bingham, Stephen D. (2005) [1888]. "s.v. Charles S. May". Early history of Michigan, with biographies of state officers, members of Congress, judges and legislators. Pub. purusuant to act 59, 1887. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. p. 439. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
• Fisher, David (2005) [1906]. "s.v. Charles S. May". Compendium of history and biography of Kalamazoo County, Mich. Pub. A.W. Bowen & Co.. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. pp. 522–523. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
• "s.v. Rockwell May". Portrait and biographical record of Kalamazoo, Allegan and Van Buren counties, Michigan, containing biographical sketches of ... citizens ... governors of the state, and ... presidents of the United States. Pub. Chapman brothers. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Library. 2005 [1892]. pp. 513–515. Retrieved 2007-08-25.