Harley Bernard Bozeman (May 3, 1891 – May 16, 1971) was a

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

, tree farmer, politician, and historian from

Winnfield, Louisiana Winnfield is a small city in, and the parish seat of, Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,749 at the 2000 census, and 4,840 in 2010. Three governors of the state of Louisiana were from Winnfield.

, who served in the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 repr ...

from 1928 to 1929. He was a confidant of Democratic

Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

Huey Pierce Long Jr. Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

, and

Earl Kemp Long Earl Kemp Long (August 26, 1895 – September 5, 1960) was an American politician and the 45th governor of Louisiana, serving three nonconsecutive terms. Long, known as "Uncle Earl", connected with voters through his folksy demeanor and c ...

, who were also from

Winn Parish Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,313. Its seat is Winnfield. The parish was founded in 1852. It is last in alphabetical order of Louisiana's sixty-four parishes ...

North Louisiana North Louisiana (french: Louisiane du Nord), also known locally as Sportsman's Paradise, (a name sometimes attributed to the state as a whole) is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier Ci ...

Background

Bozeman was born at the Montroy Steamboat landing located between

Arkadelphia Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderso ...

in Clark County and Camden in Ouachita County in south

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. He had two brothers and three sisters. Martin and Caroline Bozeman moved their family to Dodson in

when Harley was ten years of age. When he was fourteen, they relocated to the larger

Winnfield Winnfield is a small city in, and the parish seat of, Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,749 at the 2000 census, and 4,840 in 2010. Three governors of the state of Louisiana were from Winnfield.

, the

parish seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of government. There Bozeman graduated in 1910 from Winnfield High School, now known as Winnfield Senior High School, where he was involved in student debates with his young friend

Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

and exhibited a great interest in the study of history. After leaving high school, Bozeman was a traveling salesman of items such as baking powder, starch, and pharmaceutical supplies. He often was joined by

in such pursuits. Bozeman served briefly in 1918 the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, but a case of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

soon returned him to

.Harley Bozeman obituary, '' Winn Parish Enterprise-News-American'',

, May 20, 1971 With his pharmacist brother Mike, Bozeman for a time operated the old Winnfield Drug Company. Bozeman returned temporarily to the life of a traveling salesman. In

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

, Texas, he met and soon married in 1922 Annabell Estes. Back in Winnfield, he was sales manager for the Southern Minerals Company until the company quarry was sold in 1923. Harley and Annabell Bozeman had two children.

Public life

In 1928, newly elected Representative Bozeman was named chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He introduced a bill for taxpayer-funded textbooks, a change also associated with John Sparks Patton and the Long political dynasty. He soon resigned from the House to become chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission. In private life, he purchased cut-over timberlands and was one of the first in Winn Parish to have a designated tree farm. For many years, Bozeman was an unpaid observer for the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

. He subsequently served on the Winnfield City Council, in which capacity he worked to establish the municipally-owned electric system in 1942. A charter member of First Federal Savings and Loan Association in Winnfield, he served on the board of directors until October 1970, when his son, Estes, succeeded him.

Historian

Annabell Bozeman was a founder of the Winn Parish Library. Before her death she prodded her husband to begin writing the history that he had lived. In 1956, Bozeman hence launched a series of historical articles which ran in the weekly Winn Parish Enterprise-News-American newspaper under the name "Winn Parish As I Have Known It." These articles continued until March 1971, but were sporadic in the last months of his life because of illness. Bozeman's articles in The Enterprise covered many previously unknown facets of

history. He conducted many interviews with old-timers and pored over old manuscripts, letters, and other historical sources. He possessed a personal memory of the past, and his work was often accompanied by rare pictures, drawings, maps, and letters. His articles were sometimes entertaining and frequently replete with humor. In addition to his writing, Bozeman helped libraries even beyond

to build up their historical files. He became a source authority of historical materials. His local, regional, and state history was so highly regarded that the

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

professor

T. Harry Williams Thomas Harry Williams (May 19, 1909 — July 8, 1979) was an American academic and author. For the majority of his academic career between the 1930s to 1970s, Williams taught history at Louisiana State University. While at LSU, Williams was a Boyd ...

quoted extensively from Bozeman in Williams' ''

'' (1969). Bozeman tried to answer personally the large volume of mail that he received regarding his historical work but at times was overwhelmed in doing so.

Death and legacy

Bozeman was a long time member of the First

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

Church in downtown

. He died in Winnfield General Hospital at the age of eighty. He is interred beside his wife, who preceded him in death by fourteen years, at Winnfield Cemetery. The Harley Bozeman Mini-Park in

is named in his honor. In 2002, Bozeman was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

inducted into the

Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame The Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame is a museum and hall of fame located in Winnfield, Louisiana. Created by a 1987 act of the Louisiana State Legislature, it honors the best-known politicians and political journalists in the state. H ...

, located in

. Huey and

Earl Long Earl Kemp Long (August 26, 1895 – September 5, 1960) was an American politician and the 45th governor of Louisiana, serving three nonconsecutive terms. Long, known as "Uncle Earl", connected with voters through his folksy demeanor and c ...

were among the original inductees to the hall of fame in 1993. Inducted with Bozeman nine years later were two other Longite figures,

Bill Dodd William Joseph Dodd (November 25, 1909 – November 16, 1991) was an American politician who held five positions in the Louisiana state government in the mid-20th century, including state representative, lieutenant governor, state auditor, pre ...

and

Jesse Bankston Jesse may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible. * Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' (a ...

, who was then still living.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bozeman, Harley 1891 births 1971 deaths Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Louisiana city council members People from Arkadelphia, Arkansas People from Winnfield, Louisiana Baptists from Louisiana Farmers from Louisiana Historians of Louisiana Journalists from Louisiana American columnists 20th-century American politicians Huey Long People from Dodson, Louisiana Baptists from Arkansas 20th-century American journalists American male journalists