Jeptha Latimer Brock, M. D., Washington Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Jeptha Latimer Brock, M. D., who is established in successful general practice at Franklinton, judicial center of his native Parish of Washington, and who is not only one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this parish but also in service as its official coroner, is a scion of the third generation of the Brock family in this part of Louisiana. His grandfather, Valentine Brock, was born and reared in South Carolina, of Colonial ancestry, and was a young man when he went to Pike County, the extreme southern part of Mississippi, and engaged in farm enterprise. He became one of the prosperous agriculturists of this parish, and remained on his old homestead until the close of his life. Doctor Brock was born on the old home farm near Warnerton, this parish, August 10, 1879, and is a son of Dr. Jeptha S. and Arva (Holmes) Brock. On the old homestead farm, two miles west of Warnerton, Dr. Jeptha S. Brock was born in the year 1857, and eventually he inherited a portion of this landed estate, to which he made appreciable addition, and he continued as a successful exponent of agricultural industry in his native parish during the course of a signally active and useful career in the medical profession. In the medical department of the Tulane University he was a classmate of Dr. Rudolph Matas, and he became one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Washington Parish, where he continued his loyal stewardship as a physician, farmer and citizen until his death in 1917. He was a staunch democrat and was also a zealous member of the Baptist Church, as is also his widow, who now resides at McComb, Mississippi. She was born near Tylertown, that state, in 1859. Thanie, eldest of the children, resides at McComb, Mississippi, and is the widow of James McClendon, who was a locomotive engineer by vocation; Dr. Jeptha L., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Dora is the wife of William Knight, who holds a position in the lumber offices of the Illinois Central Railroad at McComb, Mississippi; Bosa died at the age of twenty-three years; Miss Lena has charge of the Illinois Central Railroad lumber offices at McComb, Mississippi; Dr. Talmadge, who is a successful physician and surgeon at McComb, was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the United States Army at the time of the World war and was in the service one year, mainly at a military camp in Florida; Edna died at the age of twenty-one years; Mrs. Bessie Thornhill resides near Tylerton, Mississippi, where her husband is a prosperous farmer; and Hobson, who is, in 1924, a student in the dental department of Tulane University, was but eighteen years old when he volunteered for service in the United States Army in the World war, he having been in overseas service one year. In the high school at Franklinton, Dr. Jeptha L Brock was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, and in choosing a life vocation he had the example and inspiration represented in the earnest service of his father. He thus entered the medical department of Tulane University, and in this institution he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, he having been president of his class in the senior year. He has since continued in the active and successful general practice of his profession at Franklinton, where his well appointed offices are established in the Washington Bank & Trust Company Building. As a democrat the Doctor was elected parish coroner in the autumn of 1903, and he retired from this office in 1912. In 1916 he was again elected coroner, and by successive reelections he has since continued the incumbent of this position, his latest election, in 1924, having been for another term of four years. He has the confidence and high esteem of his professional confreres, as is indicated by his having been called upon to serve as president of the Washington Parish Medical Society in 1923. He is an active member also of ti-me Sixth Congressional District Medical Society and is the vice president representing Washington Parish, and is a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association, and is affiliated also with the American Medical Association. In the World war period the Doctor served as examining physician of the Draft Board of Washington Parish, and in this and other connections was specially active and influential in the advancing of local patriotic measures. He holds membership in the First Baptist Church Of Franklinton, and here he is affiliated with Franklinton Lodge No. 101, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. His Masonic affiliations have been extended to the Scottish Rite Consistory in the City of New Orleans, and in the same he has received the thirty-second degree, besides being there a Noble of Jerusalem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. In that city likewise he became a member of Lodge No. 30, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, but in this fraternity his present affiliation is with Bogalusa Lodge No. 1338, in his home parish. The Doctor owns an attractive residence property on Ma. Street, Franklinton, where is maintained the family. home, and he takes much satisfaction in being the owner also of the fine old homestead farm on which he was born and reared. November 12, 1903, recorded the marriage of Doctor Brock and Miss Lenora Babington, daughter of William W. Babington, a representative merchant at Franklinton. The higher education of Mrs. Brock was acquired at Whitworth College, Brookhaven, Mississippi. Doctor and Mrs. Brock have one son, Robert, who was born August 11, 1905, and who is at the time of this writing, in 1924, a member of the junior class in the University of Louisiana. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 36-37, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.