Piromis Hulsey Bell (1858-1956) was born in Decatur, Georgia, to Atlanta builder Marcus Aurelius Bell (1828-1885) and Mary Jane Hulsey (1837-1901). He had five siblings: Bud (1860-1861); Markie (1860-1865); Dove (1861-1868); Orelia Key (1864-1959); and Ada Bibb Bell Wilson (1873-1972). Bell graduated from Boys High School in 1874 and the University of Georgia in 1882. He married Lucy Lea Bell (1862-1941). Bell served as an Atlanta attorney, local historian, and member of the Atlanta Historical Society (later the Atlanta History Center) and DeKalb Historical Society. He wrote a biography and several articles about Crawford W. Long and Atlanta.

Crawford W. Long (1815-1878) was born in Danielsville, Georgia, to James (1781-1853) and Elizabeth (1789-1856) Long. In 1839 he received his doctorate from University of Pennsylvania, and in 1841 he returned to Georgia to practice medicine in Jefferson, Georgia. In 1842 he married Mary Caroline Swain (1825-1888), with whom he had 11 children, including Eugenia Anna Harper (1856-1940). Also in 1842, Long used sulphuric ether for the first time as an anesthetic during an operation. Long used this treatment for the next four years; however, he failed to report his findings to the medical community at large. Dr. William G. T. Morton of Boston, who also experimented with ether, thus became the first to report its successful use in operations in 1846. Crawford Long and later his family, particularly his daughter Eugenia Long Harper, had to campaign vigorously before he was recognized as the prior discoverer.