Joseph M. Boggs (1824-1852)

October 28, 2026

Joseph M. Boggs (1824-1852)

There wasn’t a lot to be found about Dr. Joseph Boggs outside of his final hours. Here is what I could find.

Anything that I include in italics are just my thoughts, they are in no way verified, they are purely conjecture.

Trigger warning: suicide

1824

Joseph Boggs is born in South Carolina.

1851

This is the earliest that I could establish him living in Savannah.

August 24, 1852

Dr. Joseph Boggs dies by suicide and is discovered between 3 and 4 pm. His cause of death is noted as being “suicide by poison.” Death records note that he was a resident and died on Perry Street in the Brown Ward.

Joseph’s name is at the bottom of the image.

His information is at the bottom of this image.

Note: In Savannah a ward is the neighborhood/area around each square. Brown Ward was the area around Chippewa Square.

This would be the area noted on the death record. Note: The map is zoomed in to show local landmarks for today. The ward itself extends to the cemetery, about three blocks to the east; the area he died in may be within those three blocks.

This may have been where he was taken for a coroner’s inquest though because his obituary (shared below) notes that he was found at his room in boarding house on Pulaski Square. It would also make sense for them to take the body to the vicinity of the cemetery.

August 25, 1852

Joseph’s obituary appears in The Savannah Morning News.

This is Pulaski Square where he was living at a boarding house.

August 26, 1852

Joseph is buried in Colonial Park Cemetery.

His epitaph reads:

“In memory of Joseph M. Boggs, MD, who died Aug 24, 1852. Aged 21 years & 3 mons. Earth, earth! Thou hast not one dear thing that does not smile and died, fleet as the passing flowers of spring, the hues of a sunset sky! All that to us a glimpse hath given whereby to dream and think of heaven haste to their mansion there. All things that glad and fill the heart are born (?) wither and depart, e’en as we question………..where”

His epitaph notes that he was 21 but the death records say he was 28.