McAfee was born in Houston, Texas, in 1883; emigrated to Mexico in 1906 as employee of the Compañía Mexicana de Peteo El Aguila, S.A.; began studying the Nahuatl language in 1907 under John H. Cornyn with whom he jointly authored several studies; after Cornyn's death in 1941, McAfee collaborated with Angel María Garibay K. and Robert H. Barlow; became an acknowledged expert in Nahuatl studies and published widely.Byron McAfee (1883-1966) was born in Houston, Texas, and emigrated to Mexico in 1906 as an employee of the Compañía de Petróleos El Aguila. Shortly thereafter, he joined a Nahuatl study group at the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City where he made contacts with scholars such as Robert Barlow, Miguel Leon Portilla, John H. Cornyn and Doña Luz Jimenez (a noted native Nahuatl consultant, also known as Julia Jimenez Gonzalez). McAfee became known as a prolific ethnohistorian and Nahuatl linguist through his research collaborations with Cornyn, and publications of several studies. After Cornyn's death in 1941, McAfee collaborated with noted scholars such as Angel María Garibay K. and Robert H. Barlow, and maintained friendships with Mexican intellectuals such as Alfonso Caso and Manuel Gamio.