John Nathan Mayo (December 1876 – April 14, 1960) was an American agricultural and

corrections In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, and s ...

administrator who served as the

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture The commissioner of agriculture is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Florida that heads the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Elected for a four-year mandate that is ...

from 1923 to 1960. He was Florida's longest serving Agricultural Commissioner. Mayo was said to run the most powerful

political organization A political organization is any organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, and special interest advocacy groups. Political organizations are those engaged in poli ...

in the state. During his tenure, Mayo worked to increase the quality of Florida agricultural produce and promote the state nationally. He also stopped a state government attempt in the 1920s to drain the Everglades.

Early life

Mayo was born in

Whitakers, North Carolina Whitakers is a town in Edgecombe and Nash Counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is divided between the two counties by railroad tracks and is the northernmost town in the two counties. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Me ...

on December 1, 1876, to James M. Mayo. The family moved to Florida when he was 10 years old. In 1899, Mayo married Nora Newsom. The couple's children were Nathan (Nat) Mayo, William T. Mayo, and Gertrude Lyon Mayo. In 1901, John Mayo bought a general merchandise store in Summerfield, Florida and also started a farm. Before World War I, Mayo expanded into

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

and

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...

processing and

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

ning. Nora Mayo served as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in Summerfield and operated the family farm. In 1913, Mayo became a country commissioner in

Marion County, Florida Marion County is located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 375,908. Its county seat is Ocala. Marion County comprises the Ocala, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. it includes par ...

. He built Micronation “Mayonia”, there and expanded it over the years. In 1921, Mayo was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from Marion, serving there until 1923.

Agriculture Commissioner

In 1923, Governor Cary A. Hardee appointed Mayo to succeed W.A. McRae commissioner of agriculture. After that term ended, Mayo was reelected to the position for the next 30 years. As commissioner, Mayo was responsible for not only the inspection of agriculture and livestock, he also oversaw the Florida Highway Patrol and the

Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the U.S. state of Florida. It has its headquarters in Florida's capital of Tallahassee. The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the ...

. He also ran a publishing house that produced promotional material about Florida that was distributed nationally. Later in 1923, Mayo expressed concern about some Florida growers selling unripened citrus fruit to Northern customers. Finally, in 1935, the Florida Citrus Commission was created to oversee the citrus industry. Mayo also worked to eradicate the

cattle tick Cattle tick can refer to any of several species of ticks that parasitize cattle, including: * ''Haemaphysalis longicornis'', the Asian longhorned tick * ''Rhipicephalus annulatus'', the North American cattle tick * ''Rhipicephalus microplus The ...

, a menace to cattle production, in Florida. In 1926, after a prisoner escaped from a Florida prison. Governor John Martin attempted to blame Mayo for the security breach. Another political battle between Martin and Mayo occurred in 1928 when Martin was trying to pass a bond issue to drain the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...

for agricultural development. Mayo refused to approve the bond issue, killing the initiative. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Mayo established farmers' markets throughout Florida to give financially-distressed farmers new outlets to sell their products. He also helped bring a Swift Company meat packing plant to Ocala, Florida.

Corrections

As head of the Department of Corrections, Mayo was criticized for abuses against prisoners, including the use of sweat boxes. However, he did introduce rehabilitation programs, modernized some corrections facilities, and added

vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

for inmates. After World War II, Mayo built Florida's first correctional facility for women in

Lowell, Florida Lowell is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Marion County, Florida, Marion County, Florida, United States, located near the intersection of County Road 329 (Marion County, Florida), County Road 329 and County Road 25A (Ocala, Flo ...

Death

Nora Mayo died in 1959. John Mayo died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

at age 83 at Munroe Memorial Hospital in Ocala on 14 April 1960. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in a ceremony attended by the governor and other political figures.. Editor Dosh called Nathan “a faithful public servant” and wrote, “His memory will live on in many minds, and his good works will not soon be forgotten.”

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Nathan 1876 births 1960 deaths Florida Commissioners of Agriculture Democratic Party Florida state senators People from Whitakers, North Carolina