Maximus Neumayer
Dr. Maximus Neumayer was a psychologist and Theosophist from Brazil. After his family emigrated from Austria, he lived for many years in Rio de Janeiro.
According to a 1930 account:
The Crescent City Lodge of New Orleans had the honor of having as their guest and lecturer, Dr. Maximus Neumayer of Rio de Janeiro. He is enroute to India. Dr. Neumayer is one of the original or charter members of the first Lodge of Adyar to be established by Mme. Blavatsky. He is ninety-eight years old and appears about sixty-five. He lectured at the Tulane University and was guest of honor of the Masonic Temple. It was through the influence of Wallace de Ortega-Maxey of Santa Barbara, who was the guest of the Doctor in Brazil last year, that the Lodge was able to obtain him. Mr. de Ortega-Maxey has been doing a great deal of work here for the Society. He is a noted psychologist from the Society Internationale de Phililogie, Sciences et Beaux Arts, founded by Jules Verne, whose headquarters are now in London.[1]
This article has some anomalies that cannot be reconciled unless the age - ninety-eight - is erroneous. All available records show that Dr. Neumayer was a much younger man, born around 1874 rather than 1832. It is unlikely that he was a charter member of the first lodge at Adyar. That one was formed in 1882 and was called the Madras Lodge. The Adyar Lodge was formed in 1897, so it is possible that he was a charter member and that the two lodges were conflated in the 1930 account.
Passenger lists and immigration records from 1928-1930 all consistently indicate that Dr. Neumayer was a professor and journalist [i.e. travel writer] who was born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil around 1874. One record indicates that he had a wife Julia in Brazil and was able to speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, and German. His "race" is variously given as "Hebrew," "Ariano," "German," and "Xason."[2][3][4][5][6]
Dr. Neumayer was an archaeologist and psychologist who traveled extensively in Mexico and South America. He wrote travel books like Unexplored Brazil and gave popular lectures about the places he explored.
See "Rosa-Cruz de Oro" and "Biografia del Dr Maximus meumayer" for photographs and brief articles in Spanish, naming many institutions with which he was associated, including the Theosophical Society and a Rosicrucian order.
Notes
- ↑ "What Lodges Are Doing" The Theosophical Messenger 18.3 (March, 1930), 68.
- ↑ New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. 1928 arrival in New York from Cuba.
- ↑ New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963. Arrival in 1929 in New Orleans from Brazil.
- ↑ Border Crossings_ From Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964. 1930 arrival in El Paso from Mexico.
- ↑ New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963. 1930 Arrival in New Orleans from Brazil.
- ↑ New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. 1930 arrival in New York from Brazil.