Historical Events
- May 3 New Zealand is proclaimed a colony independent of New South Wales
Wilkes Explores Puget Sound
May 11 American Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound
Emigrants Crossing the Plains
May 15 First emigrant wagon train to make it to California leaves Independence, Missouri on a 1,730 mile journey over the Sierra Nevada [1]
Famous Birthdays
- May 10 James Gordon Bennett Jr., American publisher (thought to have inspired the phrase "Gordon Bennett"), born in New York City (d. 1918)
- May 11 Ernst von Possart, German actor and theatre director (Bayerische Hoftheater), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 1921)
- May 14 Sir Squire Bancroft [Butterfield], British actor and manager known for creating 'drawing-room comedy' (Haymarket), born in Rotherhithe, London (d. 1926)
- May 15 Giovanni Bolzoni, Italian violinist and composer, born in Parma, Duchy of Parma (now Italy) (d. 1919)
- May 20 Sara Louisa Oberholtz, American economist and social reformer (children's school savings banks), born in Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania (d. 1930)
- May 21 Joseph Parry, Welsh composer and musician, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales (d. 1903)
- May 22 Catulle Mendès, French poet, born in Bordeaux, France (d. 1909)
- May 24 Charles Napier Hemy, British painter, born in Newcastle, England (d. 1917)
- May 24 Tito Mattei, Italian pianist and composer, born in Campobasso, Italy (d. 1914)
- May 28 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist and composer, born in Rome (d. 1914)
- May 29 Sylvester Magee, last living American slave and oldest person who ever lived, born in North Carolina (d. 1971)
