1850 U. S. Census Placerville and its vicinity in the county of Eldorado and state of California Enumerated on the 17th day of December, 1850 by Andrew Coffenberry Page 326 A facsimile of the last known official record of Samuel May.  Names age/sex  Occupation  Place of birth  Samuel May  68  m  None  Va.  Thomas May  41  m Miner  Ky. From this record we learn that Samuel's oldest son, Thomas, was with him at the gold diggings of Placerville two months before Samuel's death. The traditional account of his death, repeated in the Oldest House in the Valley, places his son Andrew Jackson May at the death scene and makes no mention of Thomas. The record cited below - which was enumerated one day before this page was recorded - has been referenced by some May genealogists as contemporary proof that young Jack resided nearby. Prior work by Tress May Francis had no information on Thomas May other than his date of birth, 11 March 1809. This date is consistent with his age of 41 in the census. However, Samuel's age in the census puts his birth date in Virginia as1782 instead of 1783, as found in other records. Another interesting fact from this census record is the check mark in the right most column of the form. This check indicates Samuel was "over 20 years of age and couldn't read & write." Some extant documents have been thought to be in Samuel's handwirting. Perhaps this isn't correct. We know that it was common during the period for people to have others write letters for them. Dr. Perry found an article satirizing Samuel in the Louisville Daily Journal soon after he declared himself a candidate for Congress in 1847. The writer scoffs at him saying, "There is not one single letter of the 26 that he can identify." Some May genealogists have used the following record from page 323 in the 1850 census to show that Samuel's son, Andrew Jackson May, was residing in a tavern in Eldorado County and was traveling with "another young man with the name of White." Hugh Basken, one of the tavern keepers, is listed as head of this "household" - number 16. Nine people are listed in the tavern: two tavern keepers, a cook, (probably) the cook's wife, and five men whose occupations are listed as "None." Two of the men, Ellis and White, had substantial real estate holding of $4,000 and $9,000, respectively. The next household -17- was headed by a miner. Also listed on this page are some merchants, clerks, cooks and a physician, suggesting this locale was an established settlement of the mining region. Enumerated on the 16th day of December, 1850 by Andrew Coffenberry page 323  Names age/sex  Occupation  Place of birth  Hugh Basken  26  m  Tavern Keeper  P'a.  Dempsey Skinner  41  m      "  Ky.  Eggworth  45 m Cook  Ger'y  Hannah Eggworth  42 f     "  Theadore H. Cotter 21 m None  Mass  William Ellis 22 m " M???  John H. White 25 m "  Va.  Andrew J. May(s) 17 m "  Ills.  Samuel W. Huff 34 m "  NY Analysis of this record casts some doubt on it being for Samuel May's son. 1. Samuel's son, Andrew Jackson May, was 21 years old when the census was taken. 2. Jack was born in Kentucky. However, he had two younger first cousins with exactly the same name: one was born in Illinois on 8 Sep1830 and the other was born in Kentucky on 25 Dec 1834. 3. The checkmark in the second column past the "Place of birth" indicates that the person had "Attended school within the year." It is doubtful that Jack was still in school in 1850. 4. The spelling of the last name could be Mays. Compare the handwritten names of Samuel and Andrew as recorded by Coffenberry. Nevertheless, even if this record is for another man, family accounts told by Jack May assure us that he was comforting his father when he passed from this world and was buried in the vicinity of Placerville, California. Jack, in his later years, said that his father's death was "the most courageous thing he had known in all his life of three score and ten years." Tress May Francis wrote in 1956 that Col. May, along with his wife and secretary, Mr. Spotts, returned to California in 1898 and could not locate the grave of his father. Extensive accounts of the life of Col. May were faithfully recorded by his daughter-in-law, Lucy Henry Spotts May. Return toWhat's New or Index of The Oldest House in the Valley or Home Page © 2000 - 2001 Fred T. May