In
Memory of
Mrs. Martha May,
wife of
Mr. Eliakim May
who died May 6th, 1815
in the 73rd Year of
her Age.
Martha May was
born 24 Apr 1742 in Woodstock, Windham Co., CT and died 6 May
1815 in Woodstock, Windham Co., CT and was buried in East
Woodstock Cemetery, East Woodstock, Windham Co., CT. Martha
married 27 Dec 1770 Eliakim May.
Martha (Lyon) May
was the daughter of Nehemiah Lyon and Mehitable (Child) Lyon.
Nehemiah Lyon was the son of William Lyon and Martha (Morris)
Lyon. Mehitable (Child) Lyon was the daughter of Ephraim Child
and Priscilla (Harris) Child. Ephraim Child was the son of
Benjamin Child and Grace (Morris) Child. Martha (Morris) Lyon and
Grace (Morris) Child were both daughters of Edward Morris and
Grace (Bett) Morris. Martha (Lyon) May was my 5th great
grandmother.
It was common for
women in Martha (Lyon) May's time to have spinning contests.
"The Lyon
Memorial, Massachusetts Families" says: The Hartford
Courant, Jan. 6, 1766, had this item: Miss Levina Lyon, daughter
of Capt. Nehemiah Lyon of Woodstock, and Miss Molly Ledoit carded
and spun in one day 22 skeins of good tow yarn and a few days
after, Martha Lyon, sister of Levina, spun 194 knots of good
linen yarn in one day.
"The
Descendants of Edward Morris", by Edward Flynt Morris, touts
Martha's accomplishments in the following way: As instances of
the industrious habits of this family, Miss Larned, in her
"History of Windam County," quotes from the Connecticut
Courant of Jan. 9, 1766. Miss Levina Lyon with Miss Molly Ledoit,
spun and carded in one day twenty two skeins of good tow yarn.
Miss Levina was then "sweet sixteen." A few days
afterward, her sister Martha Lyon, the oldest child of the
family, then twenty-four years of age, not to be outdone by her
younger sister, spun one hundred and ninety-four knots of good
linen yarn in one day. Perhaps this inspiration of labor came
from the double quantity of Morris blood in their veins.
Diane Shepard
Johnson (Martha (Lyon) May's 5th great granddaughter) and her
daughter Sarah E. Johnson have triple Morris blood in their
veins. Diane and Sarah descend from Edward, Grace, and Martha
Morris, all children of Edward & Grace (Bett) Morris. As with
Martha (Lyon) May, Diane and Sarah have inherited a natural
ability for turning fiber into thread.
