Biography of Nicholas Albert Baltzell, Marianna, Jackson County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
III, page 267, 1923.

BALTZELL, NICHOLAS ALBERT, M.D.  In the twenty years since he returned to his native city of 
Marianna and began general practice Doctor BALTZELL had attained rank as one of the most 
successful surgeons in the state, and in addition to his individual practice has rendered many 
services to the profession at large.  Doctor BALTZELL is also a banker at Marianna.

He was born in Marianna, March 18, 1877.  His paternal ancestors came from Alsace-Lorraine.  
He is a descendent of Col. CHARLES BALTZELL, who came to this country and fought on the 
American side all through the Revolutionary war.  Doctor BALTZELL is also a grand nephew 
of Judge THOMAS BALTZELL, who was a member of the First Supreme Court of the State of Florida.  
His parents were GEORGE ALBERT and RACHAEL (ROBINSON) BALTZELL, the latter a native of Camden,
South Carolina, and the former of Apalachicola, Florida.  GEORGE A. BALTZELL has been a farmer 
and newspaper publisher at Marianna, served for sixteen years as tax assessor of Jackson 
County, and has always been active in public affairs.

NICHOLAS A. BALTZELL acquired his early education in the public schools of Marianna, and in 
1897 enrolled as a student of medicine in Tulane University at New Orleans.  He was graduated 
M. D. in 1902, and for two years was an intern in the Touro Infirmary of New Orleans.  Doctor 
BALTZELL has accepted many opportunities to meet and observe the work of the eminent men of 
his profession, in school, in clinics and conventions.  He took post graduate work in general 
medicine at the New Orleans Polyclinic in 1906, and in 1915 and again in 1919 attended the
surgical clinics of the Mayo Brothers of Rochester, Minnesota.  At the present time approximately 
seventy-five per cent of his professional time and energies are devoted to surgery.  He is a 
member of the County, State and American Medical associations, the Southern Medical Association, 
and the Florida Society of Railway Surgeons, being local surgeon for the Louisville and Nashville 
Railway.  He is also physician to the Florida Industrial School at Marianna.  Doctor BALTZELL 
is a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners.

In 1913 he organized the Marianna Hospital, under his private proprietorship.  Recently he has 
constructed a handsome and thoroughly modern new hospital building, with all the facilities for 
surgical work and diagnosis, including X-ray apparatus.  This hospital has fifteen private rooms, 
also a colored ward.  It is known as the Baltzell Hospital.  During the World war Doctor BALTZELL 
was medical examiner for the Local Draft Board.

June 1, 1905, at Hampton, Virginia, he married ETHEL SCHMELZ, of Hampton.  Her father was a 
wealthy citizen of Hampton, and widely known for his benevolences throughout Virginia and the 
South.  A special object of his generosity had been the Baptist Church and its institutions, 
and for years he served as a member of the General Assembly of that church.  Doctor and Mrs. 
BALTZELL have three children:  MARTHA LANE, born June 20, 1906, now deceased.  MARGARET S. 
born in 1913; and GEORGIA FRANKLIN, born in 1916.  Doctor BALTZELL is a member of the Episcopal 
Church, while Mrs. BALTZELL is a Baptist.  He is a Mason. He was one of the organizers and has
since served as vice president of the Peoples Bank of Marianna.