They were buried at Central Burial Ground in Boston from which their bodies were moved in 1882 to the Forest Hills Cemetery in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston, Suffolk Co., MA

He lived some years at Leicester, Worcester Co., MA. Immediately before the war, he sent some of his family from Salem, Essex Co., MA to Baltimore, Baltimore Co., MD to escape the impending danger. They had 13 children, 5 of whom d. in infancy, the others were:

Infant MAY, b. & d. in infancy

<G> Infant MAY, b. & d. in infancy

<K> Infant MAY, b. & d. in infancy

<L> Infant MAY, b. & d. in infancy

<M> Infant MAY, b. & d. in infancy

SAR-MAY, Ephraim Major MA Forest Hill Cem Boston, Suffolk County, MA 1728 1797 Revolutionary War Graves Register. Clovis H. Brakebill, compiler. 672pp. SAR. 1993. Also SAR Revolutionary War Graves Register CD. Progeny Publishing Co: Buffalo, NY. 1998 not evaluated

May, Ephraim. Official record of a ballot by the House of Representatives, dated Sept. 7,1776; said May chosen 1st Major, Col. Heury Bromfield's (Boston) regt.; appointment concurred in by Council Sept. 7, 1776; reported commissioned Sept. 7, 1776; also reported resigned.

These were the officers of the "BOSTON REGIMENT" when that little reference book was printed in late 1774:

Col. John Erving

Lt. Col. John Leverett

Maj. Thomas Dawes

Richard Boynton (with the rank of major)

Jeremiah Stimpson

Josiah Waters

Martin Gay

Samuel Ridgway

Samuel Barrett

John Haskins

Ephraim May

David Spear

Andrew Symmes

Job Wheelwright

Adjutant William Dawes, Jr. (with the rank of lieutenant)

There were twelve captains in all, one for each company. After each captain's name the Register listed his lieutenant and ensign (the equivalent of a second lieutenant)

National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)

Patriot Graves:

Name=May, Ephraim, Military Rank=Major, State of Service=MA., Cem.=Forest Hill Cem., Location=Boston, Suffolk County, MA., Born=1728, Died=1797, Citation=Revolutionary War Graves Register Clovis H. Brakbill, compiler 672pp SAR 1993. Also Sar Revolutionary War Graves Register CD. Progeny Publishing Co., Buffalo, NY, 1998, Quality=not evaluated.

According to the book, Preachers, Patriots & Plain Folks (2004); on page 157:

He is buried in the Central Burying Ground, in Boston.

"Major Ephraim May (1728-1797), Tomb 131, AHAC, 1st major of 1776 Boston Militia, ae 69."

AHAC is the, Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.

Was a member of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co., 1765, Lt. 1773, Major 1775. Interesting letter written by Ephraim May to some of his family, whom he had lately sent from Salem, Ma. to Baltimore, Md. to escape the impending danger which soon came with the Revolutionary War, is preserved. It is dated April 8, 1775 and predicts the bloody conflict which began eleven days later at Concord and Lexington.

Sept. 9, 1776, the town clerk informed the inhabitants of the town that, agreeable to their recommendation, signified to the General Assembly, they had appointed Henry Bromfield, colonel; Thomas Dawes (1754), lieutenant-colonel; Ephraim May (1765), major, and William Dawes, Jr. (1768), second major of the Boston regiment of militia. Aug. 26, 1776, Capt. Ephraim May (1755) was one of the thirty-six persons selected to take the census of the town. He represented Ward 12. Aug. 28,1776, he was elected a warden, but was excused. He served as lieutenant of the Artillery Company in 1773.

He died in May, 1797, aged sixty-nine years, and was buried in tomb No. 124, on the Common Burial-Ground.

May, Epraim, Forest Hills Cem., Boston, Ma. #46. Ref: Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, by Patricia Law Hatcher

City Document No. 150.

[121.] Boston Ss : At a Meeting of the Selectmen, Dec''. 19, 1776. Present Mess". Scoay, Pitts, Austin, Bromfield.

Comm'^. of Correspondence & Field officers, attended.

Voted, the Lieu'. Benjamin Woolcut have an Order on the

Treasury of the Joint Committee for thirty Pounds to assist in recruitin for the Continental Army Order iss' Dec"" 19th

List of Persons to be drausrhted bro'. from other side. Viz'.

Ward N. 12.

*Cap'. Benj«. Cobb,

*Samnel May,

*Arnold Wells,

*VVill. Lowder,

*Josiah Torrey,

*George Lush,

*Ephraim May,

*Will. Gooch,

*Henderson Inches,

*Nath'. Curtis,

*Henry Bass,

*Amasa Davis,

*Nath'. Davis,

*Will. Marshall,

*Joseph Love ring,

*Edw'^. Tuckerman,

Cap'. John Harkins,

*Ezekiel Price,

Robert Robinson,

*Will. Foster,

*Samuel Pitts,

Thomas Moulton,

*James Foster,

*Cap'. Sam. Dashwood,

*Benj'=. F. Bethune,

*George Bethune,

Samuel Hews,

Henry Hill,

Stephen Greenleaff,

Will. Henshaw,

D'. Joseph Gardner.

Ward N. 12.

*.Joshua Farrington,

*Stephen Gore,

*Will. Powell,

*Gustavns Fellows,

*John Lucas,

*Eben^ Dorr,

Thomas Amory,

Isaac White,

Will. Porter,

Robert Wier — given,

Hopestill Foster,

Joseph Bradford,

John Bryant,

.lohn May,

Adjutant William Dawes, Jr. <http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/william.shtml> (with the rank of lieutenant)

There were twelve captains in all, one for each company. After each captain's name the Register listed his lieutenant and ensign (the equivalent of a second lieutenant).

There's a similar rundown of the Boston regiment's officers as of 1 Apr 1772 in young printer John Boyle's "Journal of Occurrences in Boston," printed in volumes 84 and 85 of the New England Historical & Genealogical Register. A close look shows why Boyle was so pleased to record this information: he'd just been commissioned as an ensign in one company. (By late 1774, he was a lieutenant.)

Comparing the two lists show that the captains and all superior officers remained the same, but three lieutenants had been succeeded by men who had been ensigns and one by an entirely new name. Of the twelve ensigns in 1774, only five had held that rank in 1772.

Boston also had some specialized militia units, which Mills & Hicks listed in this order:

The grenadier company, founded in 1772. Maj. Dawes of the main regiment was also captain of this company (which might have been why blacksmith Capt. Boynton got the brevet rank of major).

The train, or artillery company, under Maj. Adino Paddock. According to an inside source, however, this company had basically dissolved in Sept 1774 when its cannons disappeared.

The South Battery company, under Maj. Jeremiah Green, which staffed the fort overlooking the southern end of the wharfs; by late 1774, British army units were using that battery.

The North Battery company, under Maj. Nathaniel Barber, still overseeing the smaller battery in the North End.

In addition, Boston was home to the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company, then functioning as a private training organization for militia officers; the governor's troop of horse-guards, fourteen strong and probably no more than ceremonial; and the Independent Company of Cadets, in flux after most members had resigned when Gen. Thomas Gage dismissed John Hancockfrom his role as company captain.

All told, that's seventeen functioning companies, though the two battery companies might have needed fewer men than the rest. The 1765 census found 2,941 white men over the age of sixteen in Boston. The law exempted some of those men (sexagenarians, clergymen, etc.) from militia service, but the mystery for me is what informal customs militia officers followed in running the regiment.

Did Samuel Adams, whose hands shook with palsy, carry a musket alongside his neighbors? (Would you want to drill in front of him?) We know African-American men served in militia units outside of Boston. Did they also drill in the big town's musters? How easy was it to skip militia training by paying a small fine or simply not showing up? How did the system deal with illnesses or absences for, say, going out on a fishing boat? In sum, the law said nearly every white male inhabitant between sixteen and sixty was supposed to turn out for militia training, but how many actually did