He was appointed Justice of the Peace in Madison County on December 10, 1817, and served as captain of militia in 1822.
May then moved to Springfield, having been appointed by President Andrew Jackson as receiver of public monies for the United States Land Office in that city.
Other previous jobs have involved operating a ferry across the Illinois River at Peoria and organizing the Peoria Bridge Co. May was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Joseph Duncan.
May served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (Twenty-fifth Congress).
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress