The Life and Times of William Henry Mayo

The setting and time period was late 1800 , in the rugged sand hills of the Panhandle to the mid 1960s in the lush green rolling hills of Central Florida. The book is an extraordinary story of my Grandfather William Henry Mayo. His life struggles to survive and provide the bare necessities for his family were tested by killer hurricanes and family tragedies. The stories told to young Travis, sitting in front of a roaring fire at the old farmplace, by his Grandfather were confirmed as being true by the children( Travis' Aunts and uncles) .

This book is an extraordinary story of my Grandfather, William Henry Mayo. Born in the rugged sand hills of the Florida panhandle in the late 1800s, we follow his life through unbelievable hardships. He and his family traveled the State of early Florida following jobs in railroads, lumber companies, and even moonshining to provide the necessities for his family. They experienced the 1926 and 1928 hurricanes in Okeechobee. Thousands were killed in these storms. Their survival was a miracle. At last, with the help of his brother, he established a farm in Sumter county Florida, east of Wildwood. The farm was surrounded by a cattleman who wanted the farm for his cattle. This opened up a new set of problems.

Travis Madison Mayo was born Dec.5th 1938 in Sumter County Florida.Most of his childhood years were spent in the hills of the Mayo farm, east of Wildwood Florida. He spent many wonderful times, on his Grandfathers farm, learning the ways of life without electricity and running water hearing the stories of his Grandfathers life, in front of a roaring fire, at the old farmhouse. Much of his time was spent fishing, hunting, camping and rambling through the woods . Travis joined the Air Force at age eighteen then spent twenty years touring the world. After retiring from the Air Force he returned to Central Florida. Due to some arm twisting by family and friends he wrote this book about the areas yesteryears and especially the hardships and triumphs his grandparents experience throughout their extraordinary life journey. Today, what was once the Mayo farm, minus the rolling hills,two of its ponds, is part of a huge retirement community known as "The Villages".