Cornelius Murphy Bozeman, son of Judge Cornelius Murphy Bozeman, horn April 3, 1819, died May 23, 1881, and Elizabeth Farmer, horn February 3, 1882, died January 11, 1864. He was the grandson of Col. John Bozeman, born April 27, 1793, who married Elizabeth Murphy on April 23, 1818, who was born December 25, 1795, and died February 20, 1836. He was the great-grandson of Meady Bozeman, who died in 1809, and Chloe Nelson, who died October 11, 1821.
Cornelius Murphy, our subject, was born January 7, 1843, and lived on the old Bozeman plantation until his death, April 22, 1905. His father was a pioneer of Pulaski County.
Cornelius received part of his education from a private tutor, Professor Crawford, a graduate of Oxford University, England. Later he attended and received his diploma from the Southern Business College, Baltimore, Md. He was a man of high principle and strict integrity. He was a successful planter, a member of the Methodist Church, and was justice of the peace for many years. He was with Company G, Tenth Georgia Regiment, C. S. A., during the War Between the States. He served with distinction and was known as a gallant soldier. He was taken prisoner and held at Point Lookout until after the war, and walked home, hatless, arriving in summer after the war closed in April.
He first married Hattie Yarborough on April 17, 1868, who was born May 18, 1847, and died April 22, 1870. They had two children, Elizabeth E. and a son who died in infancy. On May 22, 1872, he married Sarah Dillard, who was horn April 1, 1852, and died February 26, 1924. A woman of culture and refinement, she was a member of the Baptist Church and United Daughters of the Confederacy. To her husband she was, in deed and in truth, a helpmeet, exerting every influence upon her family for good. Her children are law abiding and respected by everyone, and are citizens in the highest sense. Her parents were Phillip Dillard, and a Miss Dawson. They had seven children: Alice P., Cornelia N., Fannie M., Cornelius M., Charlie N., Nicholas P., and Nathaniel J. Cornelius was for a number of years a valuable asset in the business of Anderson & Richardson in Hawkinsville, and later he and Charlie were in business in Miami, Fla. There are two surviving children, Alice and Nathaniel. Miss Alice’s life has been one of service to her Master and friends. No woman in the county is more highly honored and respected. Nathaniel was with Auxiliary Remount Depot 333, Quartermaster’s Corps, during the World War. He was married August 15, 1928, to Nannie Cobb, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Cobb, of a well-known family, who also pioneered in Pulaski County. They have two children: Cornelius Murphy, born September 25, 1929, and Warren Nathaniel, born March 20, 1932.
Alice and Nathaniel are now living on the old Bozeman plantation, which has been in the family for almost a hundred years, one of the landmarks in Pulaski County.
Theirs is a home where true Southern hospitality is dispensed, regardless of the circumstances of those who enter its hospitable doors-in deed and in truth an “open house,” where all receive a warm welcome.
