Aurelia Lamar Ralston Bozeman: Her Life, & Tombstone Symbolism

Aurelia L. was born 19 January 1825 in Georgia.  She was one of at least seven daughters born to Henry Graybill Lamar and Mary Ann Davis, and sister to Mary Gazaline Lamar Ellis.

When Aurelia was 20 years old, she married James A. Ralston.  The marriage was solemnized 5 March 1845 by Seneca Bragg at Christ Church in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia.  I think James was a son of David (d. 1842) and Anna V. (d. 1836) Ralston.

The couple had at least five children:  Henry (b. abt 1846), James A. (b. abt 1848), Anna, George, and Davis (b. abt 1850).  Anna and George were twins, born 3 August 1849.  According to the inscription on a tombstone in Rose Hill Cemetery, George died April 1850, and Anna died September 1851.  The date (month, at least) might be incorrect for George, since both he and Anna are listed in the Ralston household for the 1850 Bibb County, Georgia Federal census taken August 12th of that year.

A little more about James A. Ralston, Sr.:  this was a wealthy man.  According to the 1850 Bibb County, Georgia Federal census, James held real estate valued at $50,000.  His occupation was listed as Speculator.  I dare say at least some of his real estate was inherited from his father, who died November 1842.  The 1860 Federal census for the same location shows James had real estate valued at $120,000, and a personal estate worth $60,000.  His occupation was listed as Planter, and the slave schedule shows he owned 30 individuals.

Furthermore, the Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65 database at Fold3 contains more than 70 images relating to rent payments made to James Ralston for the usage of buildings in downtown Macon by the Confederate Army for office space during the Civil War.

According to his tombstone in Rose Hill Cemetery (image of inscription above), James A. Ralston, Sr. died in December of 1864.  Just over two years later, on 7 February 1867, Mrs. Aurelia L. Ralston married Dr. Nathan Bozeman in Bibb County.  Their marriage service was conducted by a pastor of the Presbyterian Church.  Dr. Bozeman lost his first wife, Mary Frances Lamar, in May of 1861.

By 1870, Dr. and Mrs. Aurelia Bozeman were living in New York.  Aurelia was keeping a home containing at least three of Dr. Bozeman's children by his first wife.  Notably, this household also employed five Irish born domestic servants.

Three years later, Aurelia died at her home in Morristown, New Jersey.  Notice was printed in the Weekly Sumter Republican, an Americus, Georgia newspaper (29 August 1873, pg. 3):

DEATH OF MRS. DR. BOZEMAN. -- Mrs. Aurelia Bozeman, wife of Dr. Nathan Bozeman, of Morristown, N.J., died suddenly at three o'clock yesterday morning, at her home in New Jersey.  Mr. Geo. B. Turpin received a dispatch early yesterday morning notifying him of the sad occurrence, and through him the many relatives and friends of the lady in Macon and elsewhere in Georgia.

Mrs. Bozeman was a daughter of Judge Henry G. Lamar, and, before she married Dr. Bozeman, was the widow of the late James Ralston of this city, and mother of James A. Ralston.  She was a sister to Mrs. N. C. Monroe, of Griffin, and of Mrs. W. L. and Mrs. Hayne Ellis, of this city. -- Telegraph & Messenger, 27th inst.

Aurelia Lamar Ralston Bozeman was laid to rest in the Holly Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery.  Her tombstone is topped with a large cross covered in ivy, her initials in the middle of the cross (pictured above).  At the base of the cross is an anchor, and there appears to be a crown on top of the cross.

There is a lot of symbolism in play, here.  According to the go-to source for symbols in the cemetery, Stories in Stone: a Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography by Douglas Keister, here are some proposed meanings:

• Cross:  Though the symbol actually predates its religious association, this Latin Cross (shaped like the letter t, as opposed to a + sign) is most commonly connected to the religion of Christianity.
  
• Crown:  The crown is a symbol of victory, leadership, and distinction.  The cross with a crown, though not always depicted in this same manner, is a Christian symbol of the sovereignty of the Lord.
  
• Ivy:  "Because ivy is eternally green even in harsh conditions, it is associated with immortality and fidelity.  Ivy clings to a support, which makes it a symbol of attachment, friendship, and undying affection.  Its three-pointed leaves make it a symbol of the Trinity." [page 57]
  
• Anchor:  The anchor is a symbol of hope.  For more information, see Anchors and the Virtue of Hope in the Cemetery at the Southern Graves blog.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.