Rose Hill Cemetery; Macon, Georgia: April 2009

22 April 2009

He Looked Like a Prussian Magnate

Sketches of the Bozeman Family
by Rev. Jos. W. Bozeman, D.D.
Mercury Publishing Co., Meridian, Miss., 1885
Online
Pages 35 & 36
Final portion of sketch of Dr. Nathan Bozeman.

Dr. Bozeman is a tall, portly, fine looking man with large head, open, ruddy face, and dark brown eyes. When I saw him in 1882 he wore a mustache which was gray, and he looked like a Prussian Magnate. His medical practice is very large and lucrative. His writings in the Medical Journals fill many volumes.

18 April 2009

The Greatest Gynecologist in the World?

Sketches of the Bozeman Family
by Rev. Jos. W. Bozeman, D.D.
Mercury Publishing Co., Meridian, Miss., 1885
Online
Pages 33 & 34
Continued sketch of Dr. Nathan Bozeman.

Subsequently, two or three years were spent by him in France and Germany, during which time, his surgical operations with Prof. Gustav Simon in Heidelberg, gave him more than national fame. One of the reports of the cases from Germany, denominated Dr. Nathan Bozeman "the greatest gynecologist in the world."

At that time the European correspondent of a St. Louis German paper, speaks of American medical and surgical matters abroad thus, which is a translation:

"The drooping spirits of the Americans at Heidelberg have been revived by the appearance of the eminent American gynecologist, Dr. Nathan Bozeman of New York, formerly of Montgomery, Alabama, who was invited here by Prof. Gustav Simon, his colleague, to a sort of scientific duel in the operation for vesico vaginal fistula. The American surgeon was the undisputed victor..." - Mobile Register, 1875

17 April 2009

Sketches of the Bozeman Family, Page 33

Sketches of the Bozeman Family
by Rev. Jos. W. Bozeman, D.D.
Mercury Publishing Co., Meridian, Miss., 1885
Online
Page 33

Dr. Nathan Bozeman -- 1825
Ninth child of Nathan and Harriet Knotts Bozeman, born March 26th, 1825, in Butler county, Alabama. After graduating in medicine in Louisville, Ky., he located in Montgomery, Ala., as a physician, and soon became a noted surgeon, especially in cases of vesico vaginal fistula. He married Miss Fannie Lamar, cousin of L.Q.C. Lamar, Oct. 25, 1852. In 1858 he visited Europe and operated with great success in the hospitals of England, Scotland and Ireland. One year later he located in New Orleans, where he increased his reputation. There in 1860 he lost his wife, Fannie Lamar Bozeman. When the war of 1861 came he was chosen as surgeon in General Beauregard's army, and so continued till his health failed. After the war he moved to New York City.

16 April 2009

NY Times on Dr. Nathan Bozeman

A couple of days ago, I introduced you to a well known physician buried in Rose Hill -- Dr. Nathan Bozeman. Mr. Bozeman passed away 16 December 1905 in New York. Here is his obituary from the Times, issue 18 December 1905:

Dr. Nathan Bozeman
Dr. Nathan Bozeman, a surgeon well known in this country and in Europe, died on Saturday morning at his residence, 162 East Seventy-first Street, after a week's ill[n]ess following a stroke of apoplexy. He was in his eighty-first year.

Dr. Bozeman was born in Butler county, Alabama, and was educated in the University of Louisville. He first practiced in Montgomery, Ala., achieved a reputation as a surgeon, and became known as a writer on gynecology. Later he was called upon to treat cases in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, and Paris. For several years he owned a private hospital in New Orleans. Dr. Bozeman was in the Confederate service as a member of the Examining Board of Army Surgeons. He will be buried at Macon, Ga.

15 April 2009

Wordless Wednesday: Landscape

14 April 2009

Nathan Bozeman, Famous Physician

Nathan Bozeman
M.D.L.L.D.
March 26, 1825 - Dec 16, 1905

Dr. Nathan Bozeman and his first wife, Mary Frances Lamar (1825-1861), are buried in the Lakeside Terrace section of Rose Hill Cemetery. Neither died in Georgia, though. Mary Frances Lamar Bozeman died in New Orleans, and Dr. Nathan Bozeman died in New York.

Here is a funeral notice for Dr. Bozeman:

The Macon Daily Telegraph, Georgia
19 December 1905

FAMOUS PHYSICIAN BURIED HERE TODAY

FUNERAL SERVICES OF DR. NATHAN BOZEMAN TAKE PLACE THIS MORNING.

On account of failure to make connection in Atlanta, the body of Dr. Nathan Bozeman, late of New York, did not arrive in this city until an early hour this morning.

The funeral services will take place this morning at 11 o'clock at the residence of Mrs. William Lee Ellis, 298 College street, Rev. William Bohler Walker officiating. The pall bearers will be the following members of the medical profession in this city: Drs. H. J. Williams, H. McHatton, W. J. Little, Thomas Hall, K. P. Moore and W. R. Winchester.

The interment will be in Rose Hill cemetery.

Dr. Bozeman was one of the famous physicians in America. He was born in Butler county, Alabama, March 26, 1825. He came of a long line of Scotch and Dutch ancestry extending far back into the colonial days of Maryland and the Carolinas. Both grandfathers were farmers and served with the colonists in the revolutionary war. And not only in that war, but in the pioneer exploration of the great Northwest, they were distinguished.

Dr. Bozeman's mother was Harriette Knott.

In January 1846 he entered the office of Dr. James A. Kelly, a county practitioner of Coosa county, Ala. In March, 1847, he entered the office of Dr. F. D. Gross, the professor of surgery in the University of Louisville, Ky. Having thus received the benefit of leading practitioners and colleges of his time in their course of instruction, he was able in March, 1848, to obtain his degree of Doctor if Medicine upon the delivery of a thesis upon the subject of Carcinoma. In the years subsequent he showed a genius for original investigation, and it is claimed for him that in May, 1849, he administered chloroform to Prof. Henry Miller's first case of ovariotomy, believed to be the first operation of the kind in the United States in which this anaesthetic agent had been employed. This claim is made in a communication to the Telegraph by his son, Dr. N. G. Bozeman, of New York city. It is also claimed for him that he was the inventor of the button suture. He was associated in the practice with that eminent surgeon the late Dr. Marion Sims, and subsequently he went to Europe and before the faculties of the great colleges and the surgeons of Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, he demonstrated his expertness in female surgery. He was during his life connected with some of the most important American hospitals devoted to the treatment of the diseases of women. It was a remarkable evidence of his devotion to his profession that late in life he acquired a practical knowledge of both the German and the French languages.

In October, 1852, he married Fannie M., daughter of the late Benjamin G. Lamar, of Georgia, by whom he had four children. In February, 1867, he married Mrs. Aurelia L. Ralston, also since deceased, the daughter of the late Judge Henry G. Lamar, of this state. A son and a grandson survive him the former, Dr. Nathan G. Bozeman, a practicing physician in New York city, the latter, Joseph D. Rylander at present residing in Dadeville, Ala.

Bozeman Family Plot
Dr. Nathan Bozeman is memorialized by the tall obelisk.

08 April 2009

And the Road Goes on Forever: Duane Allman & Berry Oakley

Phillip Ramati compiled a nice article published this past Sunday in the Macon Telegraph. Remembering the Allman Brothers Band: The road goes on forever commemorates the 40th anniversary of the band's arrival in Macon, Georgia. It starts out like this:

"In April 1969, the band came to Macon and changed the face of music.

They moved to Macon 40 years ago. No one here had seen the likes of people like them before.

They were hippies. Long-hairs. Rebels.

A band that had a black member playing with five white guys? A band that performed with two drummers?

They played a style of music that defied a definition. It wasn't just rock 'n' roll. It was blues, jazz, country, folk. It was eventually christened Southern Rock.

Duane Allman, a guitar prodigy, put the band together. His brother, Gregg, sang and played organ. Dickey Betts played guitar. Berry Oakley was on bass. Butch Trucks and Jai "Jaimoe" Johanny Johanson both played drums.

They were called the Allman Brothers Band. This is their story, in the words of those who knew them best."

It's a well-known fact the ABB spent a large part of their time in the early days in Macon hanging out at Rose Hill Cemetery. It is fitting that Duane Allman and Berry Oakely were laid to rest there.

Both Duane and Berry passed away before I was born, but I don't think one can live in middle Georgia and not know about them and the ABB. I first visited the graves of Duane and Berry several years ago. "Everyone" has heard the stories of the parties that have gone on at their gravesites. I never noticed any trash around or destruction of the sites, but that could've been a testament to the tenders of the graves.

At the time of my early visits, there was only a small rope-chain in front of the graves. I respected the barrier, but could've easily stepped over it. Now, 40 years after the ABB's arrival in Macon, things are much different. There are bars taller than I surrounding the graves. Considering people come from all over to visit the graves, and even well-meaning individuals sometimes harm gravesites, this is probably a good idea.

Philip Ramati's article includes some words from Joseph "Red Dog" Campbell, ABB roadie: "...Nobody would hang out with us, so we would hang out at Rose Hill Cemetery and go do our thing..." I wonder if Duane and Berry look down in amazement at all the people that "hang out" with them now.