A book about the first eight generations of the May family that entered the Big Sandy Valley in 1800 has recently been published by the Gateway Press, Inc. of Baltimore, MD. Researched and written by Fred T. May, previously a resident of Prestonsburg, the book provides extensive information about the lives and times of the family, extending over a period of almost three hundred years from their early roots in a remote village in the greater Rhine Valley in Western Europe to their homestead on Shelby Creek in Eastern Kentucky. Facsimiles from original church registers that chronicle the births, baptiisms, confirmations, marriage and deaths of family members document their history. The family name in their homeland, a region of present-day Germany along the middle Rhine, was spelled Meÿ. Dating from the time of the Protestant Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, most of the men in the direct line of the Meÿ immigrants had traditionally supported their families by working as "Schuhmachers." Hence, the author refers to all of the descendants of the first known member of the family, Hans Peter Meÿ, as "The Shoemaker's Children."

Prior to revelations in this book, the descendants of John and Sarah May, early settlers in Floyd County, had only vague traditions telling of their immigrant ancestors or of their early years in America. We now know that on September 5, 1748, in the port of Philadelphia, a family of seven weary immigrants from the Rheinland Palatinate disembarked from the ship Edinburgh and the history of the May family in America began. The father and grandmother of John May, along with three of his aunts and two of his uncles, survived the long, hard voyage. Eleven years and four months later, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, John (Johannes) was born. The story continues through the deaths of John (1813) and Sarah (1848).

The book contains 538 pages and is in an attractive, hard-bound cover. It is now available, at a price of $35, plus tax of $2.10 and shipping and handling. Exact charges (for one or more books per order) will be set after the shipping arrangements are determined. The book is available from The Friends of The Samuel May House, Inc., P. O. Box 1460. Prestonsburg, KY 41653.