Background
Brewer, Thomas Mayo was born on November 21, 1814 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of James Brewer.
Brewer, Thomas Mayo was born on November 21, 1814 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Son of James Brewer.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1835 and from Harvard Medical School three years later.
Mayo is best known as the joint author, with Baird and Ridgway, of A History of North American Birds (3 volumes, 1874), which was the first attempt since John James Audubon"s (thirty years prior) to complete the study of American ornithology. He abandoned his career as a doctor after a few years to concentrate on writing and politics, later becoming editor of the Boston Atlas. He then joined the publishing firm of Hickling, Swan & Brown, which became Hickling, Swan & Brewer when he became a partner in 1857.
This firm subsequently became Swan, Brewer & Tileston.
Brewer spent his spare time contributing to a number of ornithological publications, including John James Audubon"s Ornithological Biography. Brewer was a companion to Audubon, who gave Brewer"s name to a duck, a blackbird, and a small mammal (Brewer"s shrew mole) found on Martha"s vineyard.
The Brewer family has been prominent in Massachusetts for 200 years, including James Brewer (1742–1806), an early American patriot leader and businessman, General
Member Boston Society Natural History, 1835-1880. Member Boston School Committee, 1844-1880.
Married Sally R. Coffin, 1849.