Unitarian Minister Helps Runaway Slaves Escape from Boston to Canada

Reverend Samuel J. May was born in Boston, MA and educated at Harvard and Cambridge before being ordained a Unitarian minister in 1822. He worked passionately for a variety of humanitarian causes throughout the 19th century, including women’s rights, penal reform, Native American treatment and the abolition of slavery. As early as 1834, while residing in Brooklyn, CT, Rev. May hid freedom seekers in his home. He served as a general agent and secretary of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and after moving to Syracuse, NY in 1845, his home became a station on the Boston-Syracuse-Canada route of the Underground Railroad. Prior to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Rev. May personally escorted several escaped slaves across the Canadian border.