BRANTZ MAYER was an American author, lawyer, and scholar who was born September 27, 1809, and died February 23, 1879. He began the Maryland Historical Society in 1844. It is now the oldest cultural organization in the U.S. state of Maryland. Christian Mayer and Anna Katherina Baum Mayer had a son named Brantz Mayer. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Christian Mayer was German and came to America with a friend named Lewis Brantz in 1784. They went into business together and did trade with places like the East Indies and Mexico for many years. Christian Mayer had a second son in 1809. He named him after his friend and business partner. The first son was a lawyer named Charles F. Mayer. Lewis Brantz chose the younger Mayer to be his son even though he didn't have any children of his own. After finishing from Baltimore's St. Mary's Seminary, Brantz Mayer set sail for the East and visited China, Java, and Sumatra. He came back in 1828. During this long trip, he learned law. When he got back home, he went to law school and was admitted to the bar in 1829. He was a lawyer from 1832 to 1841, when he was named secretary of the legation to Mexico. He worked there for a year and then managed the Baltimore American newspaper for a short time when he got back.
