Background
Mayo, Robert Murphy was born on April 28, 1836 in Hague, Virginia, United States.
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Mayo, Robert Murphy was born on April 28, 1836 in Hague, Virginia, United States.
Born in Hague, Virginia, Mayo attended private schools and The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. He was graduated from Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia in 1858.
He served as an instructor in mathematics at Mount Pleasant Military Academy, Sing Sing (now Ossining), New York, and later at Virginia Military Institute. He studied law at Lexington Law School in 1858 and 1859. Mayo served throughout the Civil War in the Confederate States Army, first as major and later as colonel of the 47th Regiment of Virginia.
He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Hague, Virginia, in 1865.
Mayo was presented credentials as a Readjuster Member-elect to the Forty-eighth United States Congress and served from March 4, 1883, to March 20, 1884, when he was succeeded by George T. Garrison, who contested the election. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection.
He resumed the practice of law upon returning to Virginia. He committed suicide in Hague, Virginia on March 29, 1896 and was interred in Yeocomico Cemetery, Tucker Hill, Virginia.
He then served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1881, 1882, and 1885–1888.