DR. ALIDA AVERY: DOCTOR AND WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE LEADER

Post (c) Doris McCraw

For this First Sunday post, I will continue to share information about early women doctors, focusing on Colorado. Dr. Alida C. Avery was one of the first medical school graduates to arrive in Colorado. As you can see, she left her mark.

Dr. Alida C. Avery was not only a women doctor of formidable skills, she played a major part in the struggle for women’s rightsin the West. Her story, while unique, also is universal. Women, by the nature of following their passion to study medicine and become doctors, were in their own way promoting the equality of women.

Dr. Avery was born June 11, 1933 in Shelburne, New York. Her parents, Deacon William Avery and Hannah Dixon Avery were abolitionist leaders. She began teaching school at the age of 16. She began her formal study of medicine in 1857. She attended the Philadelphia Women’s Medical College for one year, 1858. She concluded her study at New England Female Medical College in Boston, graduating in 1862.

In 1865 she joined the faculty of Vassar, which was founded in 1861 as the first degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. She remained at Vassar until1874, when she resigned to take a job as Superintendent of Hygiene for the state of Colorado, in addition to opening a private practice in Denver, Colorado. Her income was reported to have been $10,000 a year.

Prior to her arrival in Colorado, there had been attempts at equality in the territory. In 1868, territorial Governor Evans and Mr. Richards attempted to secure women’s suffrage in the territorial legislature but failed. Again in 1870 Governor McCook addressed the legislature in which he stated:

"our higher civilization has recognized women’s equality with man in all other respects save one –  suffrage. It has been said that no great reform was ever made without passing through three stages – ridicule, argument and adoption. It rests with you to say whether Colorado will accept this reform in its first stage, as her sister’s territory of Wyoming has done, or the last; whether she will be a leader in the movement or a follower; for the logic of a progressive civilization leads to the inevitable results of a universal suffrage.”

Despite attempts at suffrage, the movement did not gain much momentum until 1876. It was then the subject of suffrage began in earnest as Colorado moved toward statehood. On January 10, 1876 a convention was held at the Unity Church in Denver, with attendees coming from a number of towns and regions throughout the state. As a result of the convention the Territorial Woman’s Suffrage Association of Colorado was formed. Its first president was Dr. Alida Avery. The honorary Vice-presidents were J.E. Washburn, Willard Teller, and Greeley, Colorado founder Nathan C. Meeker.

Dr. Avery traveled, spoke and attended national conventions and meetings. She continued her involvement with the movement after her retirement from medicine in 1887. She moved to San Jose, California and in 1901 to San Francisco. After surviving the 1906 earthquake she returned to San Jose where she passed away on September 22, 1908 at the age of seventy-five.

Many were the women who campaigned for suffrage until the passage and ratification of the 19^th amendment in 1920. In later years the campaign became more militant, with marches on Washington with women spending time in jails and prison. In the book “Jailed for Freedom” by Doris Stevens, published in 1920, is a list of the women who were jailed. In that list were Women Doctors who continued the efforts of women like Dr. Alida Avery.

For those who would like to read more, here are some links to additional information:

http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/colosuff/doc2.htm

http://chin-rcip.canadiana.ca/aclod/view;jsessionid=1imwlkf0mzms41lbepkebxeohx?uri=objects%2FMCCDI-47005.1

https://sites.google.com/site/denvercountycogenweb/biographies/1880-history-of-denver/avery-m-d-alida-c



Doris McCraw, pen name-Angela Raines, is an author, speaker, historian who specializes in Colorado and Women's History.

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A Texas Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

At a time when strapping on a gun was as commonplace and as necessary as breathing, you can imagine that the odds of getting shot were fairly high. Treatments for gunshot were pretty basic—dig the lead out if you could and if you couldn’t you were likely a goner. Not a good scenario when doctors were hard to come by.

When we’re crafting our western romances, we usually have to do a lot of research about various things and sometimes we run across truly amazing stories. Here’s one I stumbled upon when I was researching gunshot wounds and treatment. I thought you might like to know about one of the most unique women who lived in Texas.

Sofie Dalia Herzog was born in 1846 in Vienna, Austria. Her father was a physician. At the age of fourteen, she married Dr. August Herzog and they moved to America where she gave birth to fifteen children. There were three sets of twins and eight children died in infancy. But she had a dream of practicing medicine so she went back to Austria to medical school. For nine years, until August died, she treated patients in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Dr. Sofie moved to Brazoria, Texas in the late 1800’s. To say she was very colorful was putting it mildly. The lady doctor’s arrival in the small coastal community of Brazoria created a huge stir. She was attractive, energetic and a highly skilled physician. Though not Texas’ first woman doctor, in 1895 she was definitely a pioneer in a male-dominated field of the Victorian era. Not only was Dr. Sofie out of place in her chosen profession, but her appearance shocked a good many. She wore her hair cropped short, rode a horse astride instead of sidesaddle, and shaded her face with a man’s hat. Needless to say she set tongues wagging. But the doctor had obvious medical skill and little competition, so when someone needed assistance, they weren’t too picky about the gender. Soon folks were calling her simply Doctor Sofie.

She became particularly adept at removing bullets from gunshot victims. One of her techniques was elevating a gunshot patient so that gravity would aid in getting the lead out. Only twice in her career was she unsuccessful in recovering a bullet. When she had accumulated 24 extracted pieces of lead from gunfighters, she had a jeweler fashion the slugs into a necklace with a gold bead threaded between each slug. She wore it constantly as a good luck charm the rest of her life.

Word of her medical skills and pleasing bedside manner soon spread. Dr. Sofie made calls in her buggy or traveled astride a horse. Often, she rode on handcars or trains to get to someone along the rail line in need of a doctor. In 1906, the railroad formalized its relationship with Dr. Sofie, appointing her chief surgeon of the S.L.B. & M Railroad. But, when headquarters learned that a female doctor had been hired, Dr. Sofie received a polite letter asking her to relinquish her position. She stubbornly refused and remained on the line’s payroll the rest of her life.

In addition to her medical practice, Dr. Sofie operated her own pharmacy, built and operated a hotel, and became wealthy by investing in real estate. She was very enterprising.

In 1913, the 65-year-old doctor married Marion Huntington—a 70-year-old widower—and moved to his plantation seven miles outside Brazoria. Having reached an age when many would have retired, Dr. Sofie continued her practice, commuting each day from the plantation to town in a new Model T Ford—the first automobile in the county.

Fourteen years later, Dr. Sofie died of a stroke at a Houston hospital on July 21, 1925. At her request, they buried her with her lucky bullet necklace, evidence of her surgical skills and charming eccentricity.

Here are a few prices for medical procedures and assistance in the 1800’s:

A visit within one mile  ---  $1.00

Each succeeding mile --- .50

Simple case of midwifery --- $5.00

For bleeding --- .50

Bullet Wounds --- Between $1.00 to 10.00

For setting fracture --- $5.00 to 10.00

Amputating Arm --- $10.00

Amputating Leg --- $20.00

For advice and prescription in office --- $1.00

For difficult cases, fee based in proportion to difficulty.

But as was often the case, the doctor accepted goods in lieu of money. There were probably doctors who refused to treat someone because they couldn’t pay but not too many.

How about these prices? Sure be nice if medical treatment was this cheap today!!