Mayo, Katherine (1867–1940)

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Mayo, Katherine (1867–1940)

American novelist. Born Jan 24, 1867, in Ridgway, PA; died Oct 9, 1940, in Bedford Hills, NY; dau. of James Henry Mayo and Harriet Elizabeth Ingraham; longtime companion of heiress M. Moyca Newell.

Lived in Dutch Guiana for 8 years during father's search for gold (from 1899); worked as research assistant for Oswald Garrison Villard for biography of John Brown; met (1910) and traveled with M. Moyca Newell; lobbied for state police force in NY (1917); published 1st book, Justice to All, with introduction by Theodore Roosevelt (1917); published several magazine articles and books, the most famous of which was Mother India (1927), which tended to paint an unsubstantiated portrait of gender behavior among Hindus; her writings often advocated for "the voiceless underdog" and argued against independence for developing nations (e.g., India and Phillippines); other books include The Isles of Fear (1925), Slaves of the Gods (1929), Volume Two (1931) and Soldiers What Next! (1934).