Originally from the Washington DC area, Major first studied under E. C. Messer at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, then at the Art Students League of New York with William Merritt Chase.

A Harper Hargarten Prize provided him with the opportunity to travel to Europe, where he studied under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

[1] From 1908, he moved to Fenway Studios where he taught private lessons and painted.

[1] Major's work won a silver medal at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and also the Bok Prize in 1917.

[1] Upon Major's death, the Vose Galleries displayed his works in a memorial exhibit.