Who were Jennie Trout, Susan La Flesche, and Constance Stone?
They were three women born in different countries who all struggled to achieve careers in medicine in the 19th century. Lucky for their patients (and for future generations) they found the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP) where they studied to be doctors and leaders achieving historic firsts in Canada, the United States, and Australia.
And lucky for me, they are also providing inspiration for my doctor heroine in my story-in-progress HEALING HOPE (set in Deadwood 1877).
Dr. Jennie Kidd Gowanlock Trout – First licensed female physician in Canada
Born: April 21, 1841, in Kelso, Scotland. Her family moved to Ontario, Canada when she was six.
WMCP graduation year: 1875
After Jennie’s marriage in 1865 to Toronto publisher, Edward Trout, she decided to become a doctor. Her own chronic illnesses provided her motivation.
In 1871, she was admitted by special arrangement to the University of Toronto’s School of Medicine but (because of the school’s demeaning treatment of her and another female classmate) she transferred to the WMCP where she earned her M.D. in 1875.
That same year, after passing the Ontario registration exam, she became the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.
In 1883, after male students forced women out of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Jennie helped endow the Women’s Medical College at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte – First licensed Native American female physician
Born: June 17, 1865, on the Omaha Reservation, United States.
WMCP graduation year: 1889
As a child, Susan saw a native woman die due to a white doctor refusing treatment, which may have motivated Susan to pursue medicine. Also, women were often healers in Omaha society.
Her father was of Ponca and French Canadian ancestry. Her mother was the daughter of an Army surgeon and a woman of mixed Omaha-Oto-Iowa heritage.
The Connecticut Indian Association sponsored Susan’s WMCP expenses and her housing, making her the first person to receive federal aid for professional education in the United States. They requested that she remain single during her schooling and for several years after her graduation, in order to focus on her practice.
In 1889, Susan returned to the Omaha reservation to become the physician for the government boarding school and the rest of the community. She often had 20-hour workdays and was responsible for over 1,200 people.
Dr. Emma Constance Stone – First licensed female physician in Australia
Born: December 4, 1856, in Hobart, Tasmania.
WMCP Graduation year: Constance left Australia to study at the WMCP and then Toronto’s University of Trinity College where she was awarded her M.D. in 1888.
She then traveled to England where she worked at London’s New Hospital for Women and qualified for a degree at the Society of Apothecaries.
In 1890, she returned home and became the first licensed female physician in Australia. She and her sister, Clara (one of two women who graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1891) went into private practice together.
In 1896, Constance led eleven female doctors to create the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children (later called Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Hospital) operated “by women, for women” for the benefit of poor women uncomfortable with male doctors.
Dr. Henrietta Hope – Who is she?
She’s the heroine of my Deadwood 1877 story-in-progress, HEALING HOPE… that happens a year after my Deadwood 1876 story RESCUING RAVEN and…
- Henrietta is a graduate of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (which you can read more about on my blog: a frontier doctor’s early education).
- She has an appreciation of modern medicine, an affinity for herbal remedies, and a desire to help any patient in need.
- She’s practiced medicine for a decade while traveling with the Dakota tribes.
- Then in 1877, a tragic accident brings her to Deadwood, a lawless town where female doctors aren’t respected. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of hope for her future…until William Jennings (the overprotective shotgun messenger who guards the Deadwood Stage) challenges Henrietta to join him in a new life.
What parts of a frontier doctor’s life would you find the most challenging?
For me, the biggest challenge might be being the only doctor in town. Or if there were other doctors in town, trying to figure out how to change their unwillingness to collaborate and share their camaraderie and knowledge. Hardships always seem easier to tackle when we’re not alone.
Yay Queen’s! My alma mater.
Yay for the gift of education! Very cool that you went to Queen’s, Alice!
Fascinating article and what the one that really jumped out at me was Dr. Emma Constance Stone because of her birthday and where. It became Tasmania in 1856, the year she was born, but formerly was known as Van Diemen’s Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The name was changed from Van Diemen’s Land to Tasmania in 1856.
Van Diemen’s Land was a penal colony from early 1800 to 1853 and they would take convicts from England there to serve their time. Most convicts, both male, and female were convicted of crimes like theft, forgery, and prostitution. Many were very young, homeless waifs that were stealing to eat.
I just read a story about this very issue and the convicts that were sent to the island. They had factories that they worked in (mostly the woman) and the men built bridges, houses, etc. for those who came to live that were free persons. They could get servants for free labor. If you didn’t get into trouble, after 4 years of your sentence, you could get a Ticket of Leave (parole) for good behavior, then marry and have a business and make money. Returning to England was rare because of being able to afford the voyage, which was 4 months on a ship, back to your homeland.
You make me want to write a story about Tasmania now, Kathy! Thank you for sharing this. I love learning these fascinating historical facts. What a challenging life they had.