John
Bozeman was born April 27, 1793, in Green County, Georgia, to Meady
Bozeman, who died in January 1809, and his wife, Chloe Nelson, who died
October 11, 1821. Sources differ on Col. John Bozeman's military service.
He may have been in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 and/or he may
have fought in the First Seminole War in Florida (1817-1818). He was
a County Judge in Georgia from 1829-1935 and a member of the Georgia
State House of Representatives, representing Milledgeville District,
in 1830.
He
was first married on April 23, 1818, to Elizabeth Murphy, who was born
December 25, 1798. They had eight children:
(1) Cornelius Murphy, the first son, was born April 8,1819. He married
Elizabeth Farmer, became the father of nine children, and died in
1881.
(2) Eliza Ann, the eldest daughter, was born November 11, 1820, and
died May 10, 1848. She was married to Samuel Buffington of Milledgeville,
Georgia, and bore him four children: John, Elizabeth, Sallie, and
Samuel. By 1889, the two boys were deceased, but the girls were living
and married.
(3) The colonel's second son and third child, John, was born June
27, 1823, married, had two children, and died in 1856 or 1857, in
or about the Everglades of Florida during the effort to eject Billy
Bowlegs.
(4) The fourth child, Sarah Frances, was born December 25, 1825. She
also married Samuel Buffington and bore him two children who were
deceased by 1889. She died in Jacksonville (Duval County) Florida
about 1856.
(5) Milton, the third son and fifth child, was born September 18,
1827. He was a Confederate soldier who was captured in South Carolina
and taken to New York where he died in prison and was buried on Hart's
Island. He was reinterred in Cypress
Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn (Kings County) New York in
1941.
(6) Amanda M., the third daughter, was born April 18, 1830, and died
December 26, 1834.
(7) Emily C., the fourth daughter, was born December 17, 1831, and
died August 18, 1832.
(8) Albert, the fourth son and youngest child born to this union,
was born February 13, 1834, and died March 10, 1853.
Elizabeth
(Murphy) Bozeman died February 20, 1836. On February 14, 1837, Col.
Bozeman married Rebecca Jewell Pratt, who was born April 23, 1808, and
who was a Yankee lady of high culture and noted for her musical talent.
She was teaching music in one of the Institutes of Hancock County, Georgia,
when the Colonel became acquainted with her. Her father was Henry Pratt
of Winchester, New Hampshire. His children were Addison, Henry, Marshall,
Horace, Julius, Eliza, Charlotte, and Rebecca, all noted for musical
ability. Marshall Pratt was one of the first musicians of the United
States in his day. They were, it is thought, first cousins to Governor
Marshall Jewell of Connecticut.
The
Colonel's marriage to Rebecca Pratt resulted in his ninth child, Henry
Marshall Bozeman, who was born in Houston County, Georgia, on November
1, 1837. Rebecca Pratt Bozeman died February 17, 1838, when her son
was only three months old. On July 23, 1838, Col. Bozeman married Sarah
B. Pratt of Vermont, a first cousin of his second wife. They had no
children.
Henry
Marshall Bozeman became a principal of the firm of Bozeman & Regan
of Hawkinsville, Georgia, and he was the only child of John Bozeman
alive in 1889. John Bozeman was justice of the peace at the time of
his death, which occurred at or near White Springs (Hamilton County)
Florida, on November 10, 1848. He is buried in an unmarked grave at
the Swift Creek Cemetery, which is behind the Swift Creek Methodist
Church in Facil, Florida. His widow, Sarah Pratt, married J.F. Baxter
and died in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1884.
