Mary Lyons Mayo Crenshaw (August 5, 1875 - November 6, 1951) was an American author and civil servant who edited the book ''An American lady in Paris'', a travel journal about her great-grandmother Abigail Dehart Mayo's journey to Paris in 1828.
Life and work
Mary Lyons Mayo was born in 1875 to William Carrington Mayo and Margaretta Ellen Wise Mayo, the granddaughter of Virginia Governor
Henry Alexander Wise
Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 – September 12, 1876) was an American attorney, diplomat, politician and slave owner from Virginia. As the 33rd Governor of Virginia, Wise served as a significant figure on the path to the American Civil ...
. She lived in Washington D. C. She was married to Richard Parker Crenshaw, a mining engineer, on October 16, 1902, and the couple moved to Cuba in 1904 where he worked in the Camoa quarry. The family lived in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Bureau of War Risk where Mary founded the translations section.
She was the member of many heritage societies including the
Daughters of the Cincinnati
The Daughters of the Cincinnati is a historical, hereditary lineage organization founded in 1894 by women whose ancestors were officers in George Washington’s army and navy during the American Revolutionary War. Headquartered in New York City, ...
, Daughters of Holland Dames, Colonial Lords of Manors in America, and the
National Society of Colonial Dames
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (often abbreviated as NSCDA) is an American lineage society composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776, and whose services wer ...
. She was also one of the founders of the
Daughters of the American Revolution
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War.
A non-p ...
's Havana Chapter in 1907.
Richard Crenshaw died in 1929. Mary Crenshaw died in 1951. She is buried with her husband in Oak Hill Cemetery in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Writing
Prior to her marriage Crenshaw was known as a writer of magazine articles and an expert on historic Southern homes. She continued writing during and after her marriage. She wrote for ''St. Nicholas Magazine'', ''Mentor Magazine'', ''Arts & Decoration'', ''Antiques'', and ''Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine''. In 1927 she published ''An American Lady in Paris, 1828-1829 Diary of Mrs. John Mayo'' which she edited. The book came out 99 years after her great-grandmother's travels and was published by Houghton-Mifflin. While the book's title says it is a diary, the notes are undated and the book itself is more of a travelogue. ''The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' said "Mrs. Crenshaw's editing is very well done."