George W. May was born around 1840 in Ohio to Jacob and Sarah May. His father was a wagon maker. He grew up and attended school in Bethlehem, Ohio, and by 1860, he was working as a laborer and owned $1,000 of personal property.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on February 4, 1862, and mustered in as a corporal in Company E of the 61^st Ohio Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted to sergeant on December 30, 1862. Confederate forces captured him on July 1, 1863, in the Battle of Gettysburg, but he was paroled and rejoined his regiment by September 1863. He participated in the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign, and he mustered out in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March 31, 1865.

 

May returned to Ohio after the war and married Mary Nichols around 1866. They had at least five children: Isadora, born around 1867; Nettie, born around 1871; Cena, born around 1875; Odo, born around 1877; and Lester, born around 1882. They lived in Sugar Creek, Ohio, and May worked as a carpenter. By 1870, he owned $1,700 of real estate and $300 of personal property. They moved to Sandy, Ohio, sometime in the 1870s. He applied for a federal pension in April 1896 and eventually secured one. By 1910, they were living in their son Lester’s household in Sandy. He died in 1911.

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