May (Abigail Williams) is born in Boston.

The daughter of liberal reformers, Abigail Williams May attends various private schools, becomes a follower of Rev. Theodore Parker, and works with poor children. She lives for a time at 77 Franklin Street (then Franklin Place). During the Civil War, May becomes active in the Women’s Auxiliary Association of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, then is one of the founders of the New England Women’s Club in 1868,* and an official of the New England Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. She is first elected to the Boston School Committee in 1873,* and serves on the Boston School Committee (1875-1878) and the Massachusetts Board of Education (1879-1888). May dies on November 30, 1888, and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.