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Dr. Alexander S. Humphreys Jr.

Dr. Alexander S. Humphreys Jr. practiced medicine in Brooks County and north Florida before settling in Barney. He attended smallpox patients at Barney in 1899, headed a Barney household by 1910, and was among the five nominees for the town's first council in 1903. No inspected record expands his middle initial.

Identity and family

The 1870 census places two-year-old Alexander Humphries in the household of Alexander and Mary Humphries. Because that census did not state relationships, it supplies strong household evidence rather than literal parentage proof. A 1893 Macon Telegraph family article identifies A. S. Humphreys Jr. and J. S. Humphreys as Brooks County physicians and names them as brothers of Walter S. Humphreys. Mary Humphreys's 1912 obituary explicitly names Dr. A. S. Humphreys of Barney among her surviving sons. Together, the records establish the family relationship.[1]

Humphreys married L. D. Strozer in Dougherty County on February 21, 1893. Later census and Social Security records identify her as Nora Strozier or Strozer. Their documented children include Rosa Mae, Willie Page, John S., Strozer, and Hilsman James Humphreys.[2]

Medical career

By 1893, a contemporary newspaper described Humphreys and his brother J. S. as practicing physicians in Brooks County. In September 1899, the Macon Telegraph described Dr. A. S. Humphreys as a smallpox physician “of some note” and reported that he attended guarded cases at Barney during the community's outbreak. The article called him a physician from “Autrey, Fla.” The 1900 census places Alexander S. Humphreys in Jasper, Hamilton County, Florida, where he worked as a physician and lived with Nora and daughters Rosa Mae and Willie Page.[3]

By 1910, the family lived on First Avenue in Barney. The census identified A. S. Humphreys as a medical doctor working on his own account. He remained a Barney physician through at least 1935. See the family's 1910 census household.[4]

The working 1910 census transcription reads “Dora” for the wife on sheet 1A, line 18, and “Lewis” and “George” for the sons on lines 21–22. The family research identifies these household members as Nora Strozer Humphreys, John S. Humphreys, and Strozer Humphreys, respectively. Those identifications come from other family records; they are not literal transcriptions of the 1910 entries. The three manuscript name readings remain unresolved. See the household comparison and family sources [2] and [4].

In 1940, Humphreys was living in Morven with his daughter Rosa Mae Scruggs and her family. The census said he had lived in Barney in 1935, completed four years of college, and worked fifty-two weeks as a self-employed medical doctor during 1939. In 1950, he remained in the Scruggs household and was unable to work.[5]

Municipal nomination

On December 5, 1903, the Valdosta Times named A. S. Humphreys among five nominees for Barney's first town council. The newspaper proves his nomination, not his election or completed service. No election return or oath of office has been located. See The first nominated slate.[6]

Property records

Brooks County deed indexes contain several Humphreys family entries involving LL279 and Barney, including transactions recorded in Books 27, 29, and 31. The available index readings are not clear enough to reconstruct a reliable parcel chain, and the underlying deeds have not all been inspected. These remain retrieval leads rather than settled property history.

Death and burial

The Georgia death index gives August 28, 1952, as Humphreys's death date. His cemetery memorial gives August 29. The discrepancy remains unresolved. Both place his death in 1952, and the memorial identifies his burial at Camp Ground Cemetery at Mount Zion Church.[7]

Sources

  1. 1870 United States census, Ancestry record 586839; Macon Telegraph, 1893, image 825346397; Valdosta Daily Times, June 22, 1912, image 889657006.
  2. Dougherty County marriage record, February 21, 1893, Ancestry record 703360; Social Security Applications and Claims Index, record 628950329.
  3. Macon Telegraph, September 7, 1899, “Morven News”; 1900 census, Ancestry record 34032712.
  4. 1910, 1920, and 1930 United States censuses, Ancestry records 3199085, 7327084, and 19963364.
  5. 1940 and 1950 United States censuses, Ancestry records 57359862 and 127461729.
  6. Valdosta Times, December 5, 1903, p. 6, image 889679697.
  7. Georgia Death Index, Ancestry record 1078125; Find a Grave memorial 111611526.

Research status: Humphreys's identity, family, marriage, medical career, Barney residence, municipal nomination, and burial place are supported. His middle name, medical-school record, proof of council service, full property chain, and exact death date remain unresolved.