Dr. William Starbuck Mayo (April 15, 1811 – November 22, 1895) was an American physician and writer who created the fantasy worlds "Kaloola" and "Framazugda".
Mayo was born in Ogdensburg, New York on April 15, 1811. He was the son of Obed Mayo, a shipbuilder, and Elizabeth (née Starbuck) Mayo. On his father's side, he was descended from the Rev. John Mayo, the first minister of the North Church in Boston.[1] On his mother's side, he was descended from the Nantucket whaling and merchant Starbuck family.
Mayo attended an academy in Potsdam and after choosing a career in medicine, he studied under two local physicians before attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York (today a part of Columbia University). After completing his medical studies in 1832, he practiced for a few years in Ogdensburg, but after due to ill health, he left America to take a tour of Spain and the Barbary Coast of North Africa. His subsequent work as an author was largely based on these travel experiences. Mayo returned to America, relocated his medical practice to New York City, and began to write professionally.[2]
In 1851, Mayo was married to Helen Cornelia (née Stuyvesant) Dudley Olmsted (1808–1890).[3] By the time of their marriage, Helen was a widow of Henry Dudley and Francis Olmsted. She was the daughter of Nicholas William Stuyvesant (and a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland) and the former Catherine Livingston Reade, a descendant of Gilbert Livingston and Robert Livingston the Elder, the first Lord of Livingston Manor. Helen and William had no children together.[2]
He died in New York on November 22, 1895.[4] His funeral was held at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in Manhattan.[5]