Amanda Fitzellen May Burnett

Amanda May Burnett, ninth child of Samuel and Catherine May. Born at the May House on October 22nd, 1824, she married Prestonsburg tailor John M. Burnett. He died in 1858, leaving Amanda with four young children, She provided for them as a seamstress in Prestonsburg. In 1881, following the death of her sister Sarah Minerva in 1879 in Viroqua, WI, she married her brother-in-law, James H. Layne. About ten years after the death of James Layne, Amanda left her home in Wisconsin and returned to Kentucky, where she died in 1901. According to Tress May Francis, she had a twin sister named Charlotte, but other records say Charlotte was born exactly one year later that Amanda. Tress has preserved the tradition that the Mays were a high-spirited, fun-loving group, and that many a candle-lit party was held in the upstairs ballroom before the second owner of the house converted it into a bedroom. She says that Catherine May was very proud of her children, especially her daughters, and that when the eight of them would set out for church on Sunday, `dressed in their finery,` they were a sight to behold.