Chris was born December 20, 1881 in Brown County Texas and died on May 28,1953 in Hughes County Oklahoma. Chris was one of twelve children born to Enoch Harvey Mayes and Mary Elizabeth Brooks Clay Mayes. He also had two stepbrothers, Samuel Jessie and Benjamin Franklin Clay, born to Mary Elizabeth and Samuel T. Clay. After the death of his father in 1889 he, his mother and the children who were still living at home, moved to Indian Territory, Oklahoma. The 1900 census shows several of the children, including Chris, living in The Chickasaw Nation, Pauls Valley, OK.
Chris held various jobs during his lifetime, many of them to do with law enforcement, although he was predominately a blacksmith by trade. He operated a blacksmith shop with his brother, Bob (Louis Hamilton Mayes) in Dustin, Oklahoma, for many years. He was a Sergeant in the United States Army under General Pershing during the Border War and again took time out to serve as City Marshall of Dustin during the 1920's when he was needed. He always returned to the blacksmith shop, where he worked until his retirement in the early 1950's.
Although Chris was a bachelor, he liked pretty ladies and was a man about town in his younger days.
He and his sister Ida took in his sister Laura's children upon her death in 1920. The youngest child, Vivian, continued to live with them throughout their lives. Chris and Ida were like grandparents to Vivian's daughters. He was a staunch supporter of all the girl's activities, attending all of their basketball games and other school functions.
During World War II, Chris again took time out to work for Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City, to support the war effort, returning to Dustin and his blacksmith shop at the end of the war.
As many of the Mayes family did, he became a diabetic in his later years and died of a stroke in 1953.