Historic Macon

newspaper and moved with his wife and
family to Athens. The next year he and his
wife, Mary, were drowned in a steamship
wreck. Their bodies were brought to
Macon and buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
One of the great favors Oliver Hillhouse
Prince did for Macon was bringing his
friend, Dr. Ambrose Baber, to the town as
an original settler. A native of Virginia, Dr.
Baber studied medicine at the Medical
College of Philadelphia. He was nineteen
when he joined the army in the War of
1812. He was seriously wounded,
but volunteered again in 1817 to serve as
surgeon with Andrew Jackson fighting
Indians in Florida. He then settled in
Twiggs County, Georgia, until 1823 when
he moved to Macon. Although his war
wound never healed properly and he
suffered from severe asthma, Dr. Baber did
as much as anyone for his new hometown.
In 1825, Dr. Baber served as
Worshipful Master of the Freemasons
Society. That organization arranged for a visit to
Macon by the Revolutionary War hero, the
Marquis de Lafayette. Dr. Baber had the honor
of giving the speech of welcome to the famous
visitor. His moment of honor was followed by a
period of scandal. In a duel he shot and killed
the State Prosecutor of Georgia. In the South in
the 1820s, duels were illegal, but men still
fought them to settle questions of honor.
The scandal did not prevent Ambrose Baber’s
being elected to the State Senate for four terms.
As a senator he saved the woods south of Macon
from being cut for firewood. The land was made
a reserve and later became Central City Park. In
the legislature, Dr. Baber worked for canals,
railroads and public education in Georgia.
In 1829, Ambrose Baber married a Savannah
girl, Mary Elizabeth Sweet, and built for her a
❖
Above: Elam Alexander was a
“master builder”, or architect,
by profession but also a very
successful businessman responsible
for bringing the telegraph to Macon.
His endowment of a fund for
public education still serves the
community today.
Left: Wesleyan College, originally
Georgia Female College, is the
oldest college in the world chartered
to grant degrees to women. Originally
housed in the Greek Revival
building atop Encampment Hill,
now College Hill, the school has a
long and distinguished history of
educating women.
Chapter II ✦ 11