Robert Burns Mayes Biography - Mississippi Genealogy Trails

Robert Burns Mayes

Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi, 1798-1935, By Dunbar Rowland, B.S., LL.B., LL.D., Press of Hederman Press, Jackson, Mississippi, 1935, pgs 126 - 128

Robert Burns Mayes, of Jackson, chief justice of the supreme court of the State of Mississippi, was born June 5, 1865, at Gallatin, Copiah County, Mississippi, the son of Herman Bowmar Mayes and his wife, Charity Barlow Mayes.

The Mayes family traces its decent from the Maas, or Maes family of Holland, considered “ancient” even in 1476. Representatives of this family settled in England a century or so later; in 1611 William Mease, or Mayes, a minister of the Established Church of England, settled in Virginia, thus establishing the family in America. Matthew Mayes, great-great-grandfather of Judge Robert B. Mayes, was lieutenant-colonel in the Virginia troops during the War of the American Revolution. A son, Robert Chappell Mayes, moved to Lexington in the newly formed State of Kentucky, settling finally in and practiced at the bar in Jackson for many years. Two sons of Judge Daniel Mayes attained prominence in Mississippi legal circles – Judge Edward Mayes of Gallatin, the father of Chief Justice Mayes. Judge Herman Mayes was a lawyer of ability, probate judge until that court was abolished in 1869, and was very active in public affairs during the reconstruction days.

Judge Robert B. Mayes obtained his early education at the Hazlehurst public schools. After one year’s attendance at the Mississippi A and M College he continued his training at the University of Mississippi, from which he received the degree of LL.B., with distinction, in the class of 1888. Robert B. Mayes practiced law in the office of his father at Hazlehurst until the death of the latter in 1891. From 1892 to 1896 Robert Mayes was a member if the senate of Mississippi; in 1903 he became chancellor from the fifth judicial district, which position he relinquished in 1906, when he succeeded Judge Truly on the supreme court bench, May 10, 1906. On April 14, 1910, Judge Mayes became chief justice of the supreme court, from which he resigned on August 8, 1912, being succeeded immediately as chief justice by Sydney Smith. It has been said that during Judge Mayes’ service on the supreme bench, his decisions of other courts and extensively referred to by attorneys in the presentation of cases. After his retirement as chief justice, Judge Mayes became counsel for the Illinois Central system in the State of Mississippi, ably performing the duties of that position until the railroad of the nation were taken over by the government during the World War, upon which Judge Mayes reentered private practice. Judge Mayes was associated with Judge Clayton D. Potter.

Judge Mayes was a Democrat, a Knight of Pythias, and affiliated with the Episcopal church. In 1892 he married Miss Annie Lanier, of New Orleans. One son, John Lanier Mayes, of New Orleans, was born of this union. In 1900 Judge Mayes married Miss Lelia Hart Beatty, of Jackson, who died after a lingering illness of many months. His own health became impaired during these years but he continued his official duties. His third marriage occurred in May 1920, and it was to lovely Malvina Yerger Mayes that he looked for the sweet care she gave him in his last days. He died February 18, 1921.