1914 Biography - Augustus Mixer Mayo

Mayo, Augustus Mixer, U. S. commissioner and abstractor of titles, Lake Charles, La., was born in St. Landry parish. La., Nov. 4, 1859; son of Claudius and Susan A. (Mixer) Mayo, both of whom were born in the same locality as was the son. The father followed the profession of a pharmacist. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the 18th La. volunteer infantry, and served throughout the war. After the surrender he returned home and operated a drug business at Opelousas until 1892. While living in St. Landry parish, too, he served for a time as minute clerk of court. In the latter year he located at Lake Charles and there engaged in the fire insurance business. In 1897, he was appointed U. S. commissioner, by Judge Alexander Boardman, and served in that capacity until the time of his death, April 17, 1905. His wife died in 1877. The paternal grandfather, William Mayo, was born at Norwich, Conn., and came to Louisiana when a young man. He married Eliza Smith, at Washington, La., and afterwards engaged in the service of the U. S. government in dredging Bayou Lafourche, making his headquarters at Donaldsonville. He later operated a steamboat. His wife was a daughter of John Smith, of Pennsylvania, who moved from that state to Louisiana and married Elizabeth Lee, of Washington, the latter state. The maternal grandfather, Ezekiel Mixer, was born in the vicinity of Franklin, La., and was a son of Ezekiel Mixer, a native of Chertershire, N. H., whence he moved to Cincinnati, O., and from there went by barge to Franklin, La., where he married Celeste Prudhomme, whose ancestors were Acadians. The maternal great-grandfather, Ezekiel Mixer, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary army. Augustus Mixer Mayo is the only survivor of 6 children born to his parents. He received his earlier education at a private school conducted by Calvin A. Frazer at Opelousas. Later he passed 4 years as a student in the Polytechnic school of St. Louis, Mo. While in the latter city he also studied pharmacy, with the idea of following that profession. March 1, 1880, he went to Lake Charles, La., looking for a business opening. Here he accepted a position under his uncle, Thaddeus Mayo, then clerk of court and recorder of deeds and mortgages, as deputy, and went into the office with the idea of remaining only a short time. However, he remained incumbent of that position until Sept., 1887, in which year he founded his present business — Mayo Title Co. — doing abstract business, and which has been successful from the start to the present time. In April, 1910 there was a conflagration in Lake Charles, which destroyed the parish court house with almost all of the public real estate records. Mr. Mayo had copies of all of the records in his vault at his home, having taken them off in the course of business; most of the abstract records having been taken by rectigraph process, which is a photographic reproduction of the original records, thereby having a verbatim copy of the court house records. The confidence of the public in the records of the Mayo Title Co. has been universal and many of the largest financial transactions have been passed since the fire and the title came from the Mayo title abstract records. Dec. 15, 1887, Mr. Mayo was married to Miss Maria Knapp, who was born in the State of New York, but had been resident at Lake Charles 3 years at the time of her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Mayo 3 children have been born, namely: Seman A., Claudius H. and Helen. Mr. Mayo is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Sons of the American Revolution. He affiliates with the Democratic party. From 1898 to 1901 he served as a member of the Lake Charles school board, and while serving in that capacity, he, with his co-director, L. W. Kinney, planted the live oaks about the school grounds that have since grown to be very ornamental, and for which Mr. Mayo has continued to care, keeping the trees properly trimmed and pruned. In 1905 he was appointed by Judge Aleck Boardman as deputy clerk of U. S. court for the western district of Louisiana, and has remained incumbent of that office to the present time. At the time of his father's death, in the last-mentioned year, he was appointed by Judge Boardman to succeed his father as U. S. commissioner, and he has discharged the duties of that commission to the present. He is a member of the Lake Charles chamber of commerce, and was the first secretary of the Lake Charles board of trade (now defunct), serving 10 years in that capacity. He is a stockholder in the Lake Charles building and loan association, and in the Lake Charles Trust & Savings Bank, and is the owner of a rice farm at Lake Arthur. In March, 1907, Mr. Mayo was appointed by District Judge Miller as probation officer of the juvenile court, and in June, 1908, he was appointed to the same office by the city court of Lake Charles. In Aug., 1907, with representatives from 16 states, he assisted in the organization of the American Association of Title Men. In May, 1909, he participated in the organization of the abstractors of Louisiana into the Louisiana Association of Title Men, and was elected president of the association at the time of its organization, remaining incumbent of the office to this time. Mr. Mayo is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and counts his greatest work that done in connection with his church and Sunday school. He has occupied the position of a steward and trustee of his church at Lake Charles continuously since 1883, and during all of that time has been officially connected with the Sunday school work. Since 1892 he has filled the position of superintendent of the Sunday school. In 1898-99 he was president of the Louisiana state Sunday school association, and did active field work during that time in visiting Sunday schools and holding conventions in different parts of the state. In 1904 he was delegate from Louisiana to the World's Sunday school convention, held in Jerusalem, and while abroad made a tour of Palestine and of Europe. At the annual conference of the M. E. church, South, in Dec, 1907, he was elected delegate to the first conference under the Laymen's Missionary Movement, held at Chattanooga, Tenn., in April, 1908. In Dec., 1913, he was elected delegate to the general conference held in Oklahoma in 1914. He is vice-president of the State Prison Reform Association, the purpose of which is to assist freed convicts and improve conditions in prisons. He is councilor of the national committee on Prison Labor.

Extracted 2020 Nov 01 by Norma Hass, from Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, published in 1914, volume 3, pages 292-294.