Background
John Leeds Bozman was born on August 25, 1757 and was the son of John and Lucretia (Leeds) Bozman. He belonged to an old Maryland family and was born on an estate later named "Belleville" in Oxford Neck, Talbot County, Maryland.
John Leeds Bozman was born on August 25, 1757 and was the son of John and Lucretia (Leeds) Bozman. He belonged to an old Maryland family and was born on an estate later named "Belleville" in Oxford Neck, Talbot County, Maryland.
When he was ten years old, his father died, and his education was then guided by his grandfather, William Leeds. At his youth John Bozman attended Back Creek Academy, afterwards Washington Academy, Somerset County, and later entered Pennsylvania College. After his graduation, he became a lawyer's apprentice to Judge Robert Greensborough in 1777.
His interest in law and his natural ambition caused him to go to England in 1784 for further study at the Middle Temple, London. On his return to Maryland, he was admitted to the bar.
In 1794, John Bozman ran for a seat in the lower house of Maryland but was defeated, his record of public officeholding being limited to the appointive office of deputy attorney-general under Luther Martin, 1789-1807. When he abandoned the practise of law and retired to his farm is not known, but from that time he devoted himself to the accumulation of a library and literary pursuits.
He intended to write a series of "Law tracts or Essays on Several subjects arising under the Laws of Maryland, " but prepared only one, under the title Observations on the Statute of 21 Jac. I. Ch. 16 in application to Estates tail (1794). He was also interested in the American Colonization Society. In support of the society's plan to transport the whole negro race to Africa he published an essay in 1820 entitled, An Essay on the Late Institution of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States.
In 1811, he published what he had already written, under the title A Sketch of the History of Maryland during the Three First Years after its Settlement.
Later, when the other author died, Bozman resumed his own work with the intention of writing a history of Maryland from its earliest settlement to the Confederation, but illness intervened, making him again discontinue his studies a few years before his death in 1823. The manuscript at the time of his death was complete to 1660 and practically ready for printing.
His nephew, John Leeds Kerr, offered it to the Maryland legislature for publication. It was accepted and published in two volumes in 1837, under the title The History of Maryland, from its First Settlement to the Restoration.
The first volume is merely introductory, and the history itself is contained in the second. It is based on a study of the records at Annapolis and of printed works, but though accurate and detailed is not final, for much material has since been uncovered.
The account is prejudiced against the Puritans, and this is in part responsible for the biased treatment of the Claiborne episode. It is not a finished history but is valuable as material for history.
Bozman was a Federalist with perhaps Tory leanings imbibed from his grandfather.
Interested in activities of the American Colonization Society, Bozman supported the society's plan to transport the whole negro race to Africa with the publishing of an essay in 1820 entitled, An Essay on the Late Institution of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States.
Bozman was a member of the American Colonization Society.
