Queer Places:
Congress St & Purchase St, Boston, MA 02110
5 Franklin St, Boston, MA 02110
3 Exeter St, Boston, MA 02116
Rogers Building, 501 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116
Forest Hills Cemetery and Crematory, Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA

Abigail Williams May (April 21, 1829 - November 30, 1888), known throughout her life as Abby W. May, was born on April 21, 1829, as the youngest child of Samuel May (1776–1870) and Mary Goddard (1787–1882). Her father was a hardware merchant and woolen manufacturer, while her mother was a first cousin of Abba May Alcott, the mother of celebrated author Louisa May Alcott. After her children grew up, Mary Goddard turned her attention to private benevolence as well as public reform movements, including anti-slavery and temperance, setting an early example of civic activism for her family.

Abby W. May was educated privately, beginning her early schooling at a little "Infant School" kept by Miss Brush. In 1836, following an attack of measles, her mother sent her under the special care of Mrs. Ripley to the celebrated Brook Farm community, hoping the active life and outdoor air would improve her health. Although she assisted Mrs. Ripley with domestic chores, cooking and housework were never to her liking. Around 1837, May attended a school run by the Misses Smith alongside her sister, gaining a solid foundation in basic academics. She continued her education at Mr. Folsom's school in 1839 and later attended the school of Mr. George B. Emerson in 1841.

The May family resided at 88 Atkinson Street (later Congress Street), on the corner of Purchase Street, before moving in 1850 to No. 5 Franklin Street, a pleasant neighborhood featuring a central green plot. In 1857, the family relocated again to Hollis Street. Throughout these years, the family remained closely connected with relatives; in 1849, Samuel May hosted Abba May Alcott and her children—including Louisa May Alcott—rent-free. In 1852, May spent six months traveling in Europe with relatives. Following the death of her youngest brother Frederic's wife in childbirth in 1853, May took charge of her newborn niece, devoting herself to the child's health, education, and early schooling through a small private class organized in a friend's home.

May’s civic work began in earnest through a sewing school connected with Theodore Parker's church, where she taught young street children. When the School of Design for Women was established in Boston in 1850, May joined as a pupil in 1851 to support vocational preparation for women; though she lacked artistic talent, she became the youngest member of its governing committee. From 1856 to 1860, she served as a visitor for the Provident Association, engaged with the Reform School at Lancaster, and succeeded her mother on the board of the Aunty Gwynn Temporary Home, where she served as clerk of the corporation. In 1859, May helped establish an obstetrics clinic at the New England Female Medical College, assisting Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska and authoring the hospital's first annual report as secretary in 1860. In 1861, she completed a normal course in gymnastics under Dr. Dio Lewis, delivering the valedictory address on September 5, 1861, and subsequently taught briefly at Miss Peabody's kindergarten and Miss Watson's school in Roxbury.

During the Civil War, May served as secretary and chair of the executive committee (1862–1866) for the New England Women's Auxiliary Association of the United States Sanitary Commission, overseeing medical care and supplies for wounded soldiers. Following the war, she extended her efforts through the New England Freedman's Society to assist newly freed slaves. Her leadership expanded into broader educational and social movements: she co-founded the Horticultural School for Women in 1868, serving as its president to promote health benefits of outdoor work for women; co-founded the New England Women's Club in 1868, serving as president from 1877 to 1879; became a director of the Association for the Advancement of Women in 1868; and served as president of the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association (also known as the New England School Suffrage Society).

Following her father's death in 1870, May purchased a house at 3 Exeter Street in the autumn to care for her aging mother and her young niece. That same year, when Ellen Swallow Richards was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as its first female student, May became an active supporter of women in higher education. Working alongside Ednah Dow Cheney and Lucretia Crocker, May helped Richards establish a parlor and reading room for female students in a new MIT building, dedicated to the memory of Cheney's daughter, Margaret.

May also made history in public governance. In 1873, alongside Lucretia Crocker, Lucretia Peabody Hale, and Kate Gannett Wells, May was among the first women elected to public office in the United States when she won a seat on the Boston School Committee. Although the initial panel refused to seat them, May and her colleagues successfully lobbied for state legislation in 1874 permitting women to serve, after which May was elected and served two terms from 1874 to 1878. In 1879, May was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Education, serving until 1888. Through her national leadership on vocational training and expanded higher education for women, African Americans, and immigrants, her policy reforms in Massachusetts became models across the United States. She also served as a trustee of the Tuskegee Institute from 1882 until her death.

Abby W. May passed away on November 30, 1888, and was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery. In 1889, her close friend, children's author Mary Edgcumbe Blatchford (daughter of Hedgecumbe Heath Blatchford and Mary Ann Hubbard, and cousin to Mable Hubbard Bell), received permission from the Cambridge Committee on Water Supply and Drainage to erect a memorial granite watering trough and fountain at the intersection of Craigie and Brattle Streets near 27 Craigie Street. The memorial, featuring an inscription of May's birth and death dates flanked by carved sprays of wheat, led to the intersection being affectionately nicknamed "Washtub Square." May's lasting contributions to public education continue to be honored through May Hall at Framingham State University, the Abby W. May Elementary School in Roxbury, and her extensive correspondence preserved with sculptor Anne Whitney.

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