William James Mayo

In 1888, William James Mayo married Hattie Marie Damon. They had three children; William Damon Mayo, Worrall Mayo, and Helen Phoebe Mayo, all of whom died in infancy.

After retirement, the Mayo brothers bought adjacent properties in Tucson, Arizona. However, they often traveled to Rochester to attend Board meetings. In the spring of 1939, while on such a visit to Rochester, William was diagnosed with stomach cancer and underwent surgery.

Unfortunately, the surgery proved to be unsuccessful and he retired to his home in Rochester. There he died on July 28, 1939. Incidentally, Charles had died from pneumonia just two months prior to his death.

William James Mayo was born on June 29, 1861, in Le Sueur, Minnesota. His father, William Worrall Mayo, a descendant of the seventeenth century English chemist and physician John Mayow, had emigrated from England in 1846. On earning his medical degree from Indiana Medical College, the senior Mayo had become a well-known doctor.

William Worrall and his wife, Louise Abigail Wright, had five children; three daughters and two sons. William James was their second child and eldest son. He was four years senior to his brother Charles Horace.

When William James was around two years old, the family shifted to a farm in Rochester. Charles was born here. The two brothers lived an ordinary life, going to public schools and attending chores around the farm.

What made them different was the education they received in addition to their regular school curriculum. For example, after school, they were sent to work so that they could develop skills necessary for their future profession, which their parents had already decided: medicine.

Moreover, Dr. Mayo kept a large medical library in his office and while the brothers were busy doing chores at home and office, he would instruct them not only in the application of medical knowledge, but also in chemistry, physics and anatomy.

In 1883, soon after receiving his MD, William James Mayo returned to Rochester to join his father’s already thriving practice. In the same year, on August 21, a terrible tornado hit Rochester, leaving 24 dead and 40 seriously injured.

As there was no hospital, the injured were brought to the town’s dance hall, where Sr. Mayo started his treatment. Apart from William James, already a qualified doctor and Charles Horace, then in the final year of school, the Sisters of Saint Francis under the leadership of Mother Mary Alfred Moes, came forward to help him.

Later, Mother Moes approached Dr. W. W. Mayo with a proposal to build a proper hospital and when Dr. Mayo agreed, she started raising the funds. Eventually on September 30, 1889, St. Mary’s Hospital opened its door.

By then, Charles Horace too had qualified as a doctor and had come home to join their practice. Now with the opening of the hospital, the three Mayo doctors became attached to it. Concurrently, they continued with their private practice.

At St. Mary’s Hospital, seventy-year-old W. W. Mayo became the consulting physician while William James, known as Dr. Will and Charles Horace, called Dr. Charlie, saw patients and performed surgeries. The Sisters of Saint Francis helped them as nurses.

In 1892, Dr. W. W. Mayo retired from active service, leaving William and Charles in charge of his private practice as well as of St. Mary Hospital. However, before he did that, he brought in Dr. Augustus W. Stinchfield to aid his sons.

Subsequently, five other doctors, Dr. Christopher Graham, Dr. E. Star Judd, Dr. Henry Stanley Plummer, Dr. Melvin Millet, and Dr. Donald Balfour joined the group. Although the Sr. Mayo had retired by then, they continued to work under his guidance.

In 1903, this close cooperation resulted in the formation of ‘Mayo Clinic’ with W. W. Mayo as its head. However, it continued to function from St. Mary’s Hospital. The profit of the private group practice was initially divided among the partners, while other staffs were hired on salary.

Here too the same policy of charging patients according to their ability to pay was followed. As a result, 30 percent of the clinic patients were treated free of charge, and another 25 percent barely at cost. Later as the Mayo brothers’ reputation began to grow, more and more paid patients began to come in.

Along with working at the Mayo Clinic, William James Mayo continued to serve St. Mary’s Hospital until 1905. Thereafter, he began to concentrate solely on Mayo Clinic. Although he was in charge of the administration, he did not take any decision without his brother’s approval.