Submitted by
Vicki Ebert

JOHN R. MAY DIED THURSDAY
Has Been Prominent in Blackwell for Over Twenty Years

The man to whom this city owes more, possibly than any other, one man, for the success of its early development, passed on to the next world Thursday morning. He was John R. May and his death came as the result of a general breakdown. John R. was composed and natural to the end and his death was fitting as the close of such an eventful life.
John R. May, son of William T. May and Jane Jones May, was born Sept. 8, 1843, near Greencastle, Ind. His father’s family moved to Iowa in 1852. When only a slender youth of 19 years, John R. enlisted in the 36th Iowa infantry, and to that fact has been due largely, the ill health which he has battled so bravely all these years. In 1869 he was married in Albia, Iowa, to Miss Celesta Hall. A baby girl, Ethlyn, was born to them, but lived only on month. In November, 1869, he was elected county treasurer of Monroe county, Indiana, and received a unanimous re-nomination and election for the second term for the same office. Referring to a scrap book of personal notices there is this concerning him; “Rarely does so young a man gain promotion, but Mr. May has many excellent qualities that make him popular in this community. He has great energy and nervous power, strictly honest, and will yet fill higher positions in life. The books are handsomely kept, and method is seen in the desk, in the office, everywhere. He is a genial, affable gentleman, and the poorest foreigner receives as courteous attention as the richest capitalist.”
Mr. May afterward owned the abstract books of that county; but continuous and close application to office work still further impaired his health and he was compelled to take refuge in the mountains of Colorado in 1877 and 1878, and since that time has lived more in the open, residing for a time in western Kansas, and coming to Oklahoma two weeks after the opening of the Cherokee strip.
Here he has been identified with the formation of the city of Blackwell from the beginning. Referring again to the scrap book so faithfully kept by his devoted wife, there is evidence of his being closely associated with all the interests of the town, being its first mayor, and the first Mason Lodge secretary. The latter position he held for 20 years and until this year was the only secretary the order here ever had. And best of all was interested in the formation and progress of the church of his choice, which he loved so loyally. He was the first superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school and helped to set the trees about the church and to water and care for them.
When there was great haste to get into the first little church for worship and on one was at hand to help, he, himself carried the mortar for Mr. Godby to finish the plastering while Re. H. L. Henn put the paint on the arched roof. He was a member of the church board from the first of its organization.
While he spoke but little in public of his religious views, those who knew him best, recognized his unwavering, child-like faith, the wonder to him being that any one could doubt the existence and goodness of God.
He was always the friend of the widow and orphan, charging nothing or but the smallest amount as compensation for doing their business, and he was loved and trusted by them. His business methods were strict almost to severity, as he had no patience with transactions that bordered on graft or greed. He steered clear of practices that were the least doubtful, though sometimes considered legitimate by the business world.
He was a man of just and unbiased judgment. And was often enabled to settle business or social differences between man and man to the satisfaction of each, and it was a source of comfort though manifest surprise to him during his long illness to have those whom he had thus served remind him in a grateful way of such service, for it was so easy and natural for him to do this that he at once forgot about. He is the last of his immediate family. Two brothers and his sister, Mrs. Talmadge, having preceded him to the better home. Funeral services at the Methodist Episcopal church, Sunday at 2:30.