The son of Julien and Suzette Mayfair, he inherits Julien’s central role in the lives of the Mayfair witches. He looks much like his father and engages in incestuous relations with his relatives to ensure the continuation of traits that Lasher desires in the witches.
Cortland studies at Harvard to be a lawyer, then goes into the law firm that becomes Mayfair and Mayfair, to manage the Mayfair wealth. He is secretive and guarded man, disliking people like the Talamasca who ask questions about the family. Devoted to making money, he has a strong interest in the Mayfair legacy. The Talamasca believes ha may have fathered Stella with Mary Beth, although Julien later claims that Stella is his daughter. With Stella, however, Cortland fathers Antha, and with Deirdre, Rowan.
Cortland marries Amanda Grady and has five children with her. She leaves him because his descriptions of seeing spirits and his ability to materialize in other places frighten her. She thinks he has sold himself to the Devil.
With Barbara Ann Mayfair, Cortland fathers Evelyn (he claims he was seduced and drugged at the time). Evelyn is born with the witch’s mark – a sixth finger –(see File on Witch's Marks) and the power of prophecy. Her family keeps her locked in the attic, but Julien rescues her, and with her, his own son’s daughter, he fathers Laura Lee. Through their line, one of the most powerful of the Mayfair witches, Mona, is eventually born.
In 1958 Aaron Lightner arrives in New Orleans to attempt contact with some members of the Mayfair family. He talks with Deirdre, who wants to be left alone, and he also leaves a message with Carlotta and Cortland. Carlotta fails to respond, but Cortland meets Aaron for dinner. Aaron sizes him up as being insincere in his apparent affability; he seems dangerous. Although Cortland claims he is not “one of them,” Aaron suspects that he may have been instrumental in a number of deaths, like those of Cornell Mayfair and Irwin Dandrich. He takes care not to drink the poison he is certain that Cortland put in his drink, but nearly dies later when an accomplice achieves Cortland’s goal.
Cortland warns Aaron to stay away from Deirdre, because she has a chance to escape the Mayfair troubles. His remarks prove to be ironic, for it becomes clear that he has seduced her and fathered the thirteenth witch, Rowan. He becomes Deirdre’s protector, although Carlotta bars him from First Street. When Carlotta decides to take Rowan away from Deirdre and have her adopted by California Mayfairs, Cortland tries to fight her. On October 20, 1959 he falls dawn the steps at First Street and dies from his injuries. How it happened is not clear; some suspect that Carlotta pushed him, but Deirdre cries to someone invisible, “You did it!”
Cortland appears as one of the earthbound dead in the vision Michael Curry has when he is drowning in the First Street pool. Cortland indicates that Michael was part of a greater design involving them all, and that his purpose was to father the child with Rowan.
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