The doctor was a woman : stories of the first female physicians on the frontier

Title:

Author:

Enss, Chris, 1961- author.

ISBN:

9781493062928

Personal Author:

Enss, Chris, 1961- author.

Publication Information:

Essex, Connecticut : TwoDot, [2024]

Physical Description:

xii, 177 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Contents:

Jenny Murphy: Yankton Doctor of Medicine -- Lillian Heath: Wyoming Surgeon -- Eliza Cook: First Licensed Woman Doctor in Nevada -- Emma French: The Railroad Doctor -- Bessie Efner: Open Range Doctor -- Bethenia Owens: Northwest Physician -- Lucy Hobbs: Pioneer Dental Heroine -- Fannie Dunn Quain: Physician Fighting Lung Disease -- Harriet Belcher: Beloved Santa Barbara Doctor -- Romania Pratt: First Woman to Practice Medicine in Utah -- Sofie Herzog: Woman Railroad Surgeon -- Helen MacKnight Doyle: The Resolute Doctor -- Elizabeth McDonald Watson: Soldier of the Living.

Abstract:

"The long-awaited follow up title to Chris Enss's bestselling Doctor Wore Petticoats, profiles 10 new female physicians of the Old West, published in time for Women's History Month. Given the media coverage during the 2020 pandemic, the celebration of the heroics of health care workers and women's work are trending subjects"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Women physicians -- West (U.S.) -- Biography.

Physicians -- West (U.S.) -- Biography.

Medicine -- West (U.S.) -- History.

Women physicians.

Genre:

Biographies.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2436312

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Auberry Branch Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	610.922 ENS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Clovis Branch Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	610.922 ENS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fresno Central Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Non-fiction Area	610.922 ENS	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"No women need apply." Western towns looking for a local doctor during the frontier era often concluded their advertisements in just that manner. Yet apply they did. And in small towns all over the West, highly trained women from medical colleges in the East took on the post of local doctor to great acclaim. In this new book, author Chris Enss offers a glimpse into the fascinating lives of ten amazing women, including the first female surgeon of Texas, the first female doctor to be convicted of manslaughter in an abortion-related maternal death, and the first woman physician to serve on a State Board of Health.

Author Notes

Chris Enss is an American author and screenwriter. She has written more than 20 books on the subject of women in the Old West, and has collaborated with producer Howard Kazanjian on four books, including two about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Enss's works include: Object Matrimony -- The Risky Business of Mail-Order Matchmaking on the Western Frontier; Love Lessons from the Old West; Frontier Teachers; How the West was Worn; Love Untamed; and Pistol Packin' Madams.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Historian Enss (The Widowed Ones) profiles in this colorful account 10 of the first female physicians on America's Western frontier. She portrays them as highly determined individuals, whose resolve not only saw them through the medical schools that resisted admitting them, but also through the treatment of recalcitrant patients ("Doctors were few and far between in the unsettled land," she writes, and yet "for a time it seemed most trappers, miners, and merchants would rather suffer than consult a woman doctor"). Among the "lady physicians" and "hen medics," there was Lilian Heath, a pioneer of plastic surgery who in 1886 mended the face of a man who'd shot himself in despair (she told him he looked better after her 30 surgeries than before); Emma French, the 16th wife of a Mormon who received the midwifery training common among her sister wives; and Bessie Efner, who was seduced to Wyoming by boosters of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, only to find that the men were unwilling to see her--her first patient was a horse she cured of colic. Between the brief biographies are insightful notes on topics such as treating influenza, sterilizing patients, and extracting bullets. Readers who enjoyed Campbell Olivia's Women in White Coats will want to check this out. (Feb.)

Library Journal Review

Scriptwriter/comedian Enss follows up Doctor Wore Petticoats with 10 more accounts of women healers who plied their trade during the early days of American frontier settlement. Women physicians encountered predictable resistance in the East, but out West, healers of Western medicine were scarce, offering these new physicians the chance to practice their skills in the community. Not surprisingly, women doctors faced criticism because people doubted their abilities and many considered a woman clinician to be "unwomanly." However, Enss illuminates how their boldness and persistence earned them respect from frontier patients and other clinicians. At the end of each chapter, there's a case study report written by that doctor on some aspects of her clinical experience, including plastic surgery, dentistry, autopsies, reproductive illnesses, and others. Despite its strengths, the book's profiles lack an integrated discussion that address the more general struggles for acceptance these women faced, which would have enhanced the book's utility as a historical text. VERDICT A collection of tales about real superhero women and how they won respect. This title would be a good museum store book or as an adjunct resource for a senior high classroom module on the American West.--Dorian Gossy

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	rx
Jenny Murphy: Yankton Doctor of Medicine	1
Lillian Heath: Wyoming Surgeon	9
Eliza Cook: First Licensed Woman Doctor in Nevada	19
Emma French: The Railroad Doctor	27
Bessie Efner: Open Range Doctor	35
Bethenia Owens-Adair: Northwest Physician	55
Lucy Hobbs: Pioneer Dental Heroine	67
Fannie Dunn Quain: Physician Fighting Lung Disease	79
Harriet Belcher: Beloved Santa Barbara Doctor	91
Romania Pratt: First Woman to Practice Medicine in Utah	103
Sofie Herzog: Woman Railroad Surgeon	117
Helen MacKnight Doyle: The Resolute Doctor	127
Elizabeth McDonald Watson: Soldier of the Living	141
Notes	149
Bibliography	163
Index	169
About the Author	177

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents