It was a joyous day in 1870 for three young Quaker women from Cayuga County. Amanda Sanford, Eliza Marie Mosher and Anna Hutchinson Searing, who were interning at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, danced around the room upon the news that the University of Michigan Medical School was going to admit women into its program. The three women had come to this point in their careers by various routes but each knew that they needed the much coveted M.D. degree. Up to this time there was no accredited co-ed medical state school in the country. They each eagerly applied to the new program. All three were accepted.
Amanda Sanford becomes Auburn's first female physician
Auburn's first female physician, Amanda Sanford, at age 7 moved from Rhode Island with her widowed mother to Scipioville. She attended the Friend's Academy in Union Springs and upon graduation taught at Emily Howland's Select School in Sherwood. With the support and encouragement of Emily Howland, Sanford completed one year at Women's College at Philadelphia before entering the intern program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School and she stood at the head of the class of 190. Professor Henry F. Lyster, addressing the graduating class said of her, “It is my pleasing duty to welcome to the profession a woman coming from these halls.” Some young men threw papers at her from the gallery during Lyster's address, but Sanford maintained her composure and presented her thesis on Puerperal Eclampsia, she later recalled.
Sanford decided to establish a practice in Auburn. Immediately upon application in 1871 she was accepted into the Cayuga County and Auburn Medical Societies. She eventually lived and had an office at 28 South St. where patients were often treated overnight. She was among the eight founding physicians of the Auburn City Hospital. A maternity cottage was given to the hospital in her honor. Sanford served in various offices including president of the Auburn Medical and Cayuga County Medical societies and presented papers at both the state and central New York meetings. She was an active suffragette.
In 1879-80, Sanford, Mosher and Searing traveled to Europe and studied new medical techniques. Upon Sanford's return, she used one of these techniques. She was the first to perform a tracheotomy in the county, a procedure that saved the life of a 6-year-old orphan. She donated many hours treating children at the Orphan Asylum and also taught at the Howland Institute in Union Springs. Sanford married Patrick Hickey on Feb. 13, 1884 and helped raise his two sons. She continued her Auburn practice until her death at age 56 in 1894. There is a trust fund at the hospital that was established in honor of Sanford.
Eliza Maria Mosher becomes a dean
Eliza Maria Mosher, daughter of Augustus Mosher, was born in 1846 in Poplar Ridge. She completed her preparatory work at Union Springs Seminary, which was operated by the Society of Friends. She did clinical work at the New England Hospital before entering the University of Michigan Medical School in 1871. Eliza recalled that “towns people occasionally refused to rent rooms to ‘hen medics' and that often male students either ignored the women or exhibited deliberate animosity. Even faculty members could not hide their disapproval.”
Mosher vividly remembered the hissing she and the other women received at the lectures in organic chemistry, the only class that was co-ed. “We women gathered in body and filed into the lower lecture room where chairs were placed in front of the professor's platform for us. It was an ordeal for even strong nerves to listen to the stomping, the shouting, the cat calls and general stampede our entrance elicited. The Professor seemed pleased with the demonstration,” she later reflected.
Eliza obtained her degree in 1875 and opened a practice in Poughkeepsie with Elizabeth Gerow, a Union Springs Seminary and Michigan Medical School graduate. Eliza also was a resident physician and taught courses at Vassar. Mosher later served as superintendent of the Mass. Reformatory Prison where she established hospital facilities before entering private practice in Brooklyn.
In 1896, Mosher was named the first Dean of Women and professor of Hygiene, sanitation and home economics at the University of Michigan. She was the first woman to become a full professor, a position she held until 1902. To promote better posture, she invented a kindergarten chair as well a bicycle seat, subway bench and a corset-like garment that did not impede breathing. She wrote books on the subject of posture and also served as the editor of the Medical Woman's Journal for more than 20 years. Mosher never married but did adopt a daughter. There is in Ledyard a state historical marker honoring Mosher
Anna Hutchinson Searing
Anna Hutchinson Searing, was born in 1830, the daughter of John Searing of Poplar Ridge. She attended Oberlin and during the Civil Was she and Emily Howland taught freed blacks at Miss Miner's school in Washington D.C. She then entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in October 1869 but left there in 1870 to obtain clinical experience at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. In 1871-72 she enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical School as was listed as a senior indicating that she was given credit for previous courses. She wrote her graduation thesis on Indigestion in 1872.
Searing was accepted into the Cayuga County Medical Society in 1874 but decided to enter into the practice of Rochester's first female physician, Dr. Sarah Adamson Dolley, the third in the state to be licensed. In Rochester, Anna was active in the women's suffrage movement along with Susan B. Anthony and founded the Provident Dispensing Clinic. She continued practicing in Rochester until 1905 and retired to the San Diego area where she died at age 82.
These three trailblazers in the field of medicine did not find it easy. Mosher in later years recalled, “I remember telling my mother when I was a child that I wanted to be a doctor and she responded 'I would just as soon think of paying to have thee shut up in a lunatic asylum as to have thee study medicine.' The University broadened my mental horizon. Opposition increased my power of resistance, deepened my determination to prove that I had both the ability and the right to become a physician and to practice medicine beside the best men in the profession.”
Sheila Tucker is the Cayuga County historian.
Auburn's first female physician, Amanda Sanford, at age 7 moved from Rhode Island with her widowed mother to Scipioville. She attended the Friend's Academy in Union Springs and upon graduation taught at Emily Howland's Select School in Sherwood. With the support and encouragement of Emily Howland, Sanford completed one year at Women's College at Philadelphia before entering the intern program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Michigan Medical School and she stood at the head of the class of 190. Professor Henry F. Lyster, addressing the graduating class said of her, “It is my pleasing duty to welcome to the profession a woman coming from these halls.” Some young men threw papers at her from the gallery during Lyster's address, but Sanford maintained her composure and presented her thesis on Puerperal Eclampsia, she later recalled.
Sanford decided to establish a practice in Auburn. Immediately upon application in 1871 she was accepted into the Cayuga County and Auburn Medical Societies. She eventually lived and had an office at 28 South St. where patients were often treated overnight. She was among the eight founding physicians of the Auburn City Hospital. A maternity cottage was given to the hospital in her honor. Sanford served in various offices including president of the Auburn Medical and Cayuga County Medical societies and presented papers at both the state and central New York meetings. She was an active suffragette.
In 1879-80, Sanford, Mosher and Searing traveled to Europe and studied new medical techniques. Upon Sanford's return, she used one of these techniques. She was the first to perform a tracheotomy in the county, a procedure that saved the life of a 6-year-old orphan. She donated many hours treating children at the Orphan Asylum and also taught at the Howland Institute in Union Springs. Sanford married Patrick Hickey on Feb. 13, 1884 and helped raise his two sons. She continued her Auburn practice until her death at age 56 in 1894. There is a trust fund at the hospital that was established in honor of Sanford.
Eliza Maria Mosher becomes a dean
Eliza Maria Mosher, daughter of Augustus Mosher, was born in 1846 in Poplar Ridge. She completed her preparatory work at Union Springs Seminary, which was operated by the Society of Friends. She did clinical work at the New England Hospital before entering the University of Michigan Medical School in 1871. Eliza recalled that “towns people occasionally refused to rent rooms to ‘hen medics' and that often male students either ignored the women or exhibited deliberate animosity. Even faculty members could not hide their disapproval.”
Mosher vividly remembered the hissing she and the other women received at the lectures in organic chemistry, the only class that was co-ed. “We women gathered in body and filed into the lower lecture room where chairs were placed in front of the professor's platform for us. It was an ordeal for even strong nerves to listen to the stomping, the shouting, the cat calls and general stampede our entrance elicited. The Professor seemed pleased with the demonstration,” she later reflected.
Eliza obtained her degree in 1875 and opened a practice in Poughkeepsie with Elizabeth Gerow, a Union Springs Seminary and Michigan Medical School graduate. Eliza also was a resident physician and taught courses at Vassar. Mosher later served as superintendent of the Mass. Reformatory Prison where she established hospital facilities before entering private practice in Brooklyn.
In 1896, Mosher was named the first Dean of Women and professor of Hygiene, sanitation and home economics at the University of Michigan. She was the first woman to become a full professor, a position she held until 1902. To promote better posture, she invented a kindergarten chair as well a bicycle seat, subway bench and a corset-like garment that did not impede breathing. She wrote books on the subject of posture and also served as the editor of the Medical Woman's Journal for more than 20 years. Mosher never married but did adopt a daughter. There is in Ledyard a state historical marker honoring Mosher
Anna Hutchinson Searing
Anna Hutchinson Searing, was born in 1830, the daughter of John Searing of Poplar Ridge. She attended Oberlin and during the Civil Was she and Emily Howland taught freed blacks at Miss Miner's school in Washington D.C. She then entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in October 1869 but left there in 1870 to obtain clinical experience at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. In 1871-72 she enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical School as was listed as a senior indicating that she was given credit for previous courses. She wrote her graduation thesis on Indigestion in 1872.
Searing was accepted into the Cayuga County Medical Society in 1874 but decided to enter into the practice of Rochester's first female physician, Dr. Sarah Adamson Dolley, the third in the state to be licensed. In Rochester, Anna was active in the women's suffrage movement along with Susan B. Anthony and founded the Provident Dispensing Clinic. She continued practicing in Rochester until 1905 and retired to the San Diego area where she died at age 82.
These three trailblazers in the field of medicine did not find it easy. Mosher in later years recalled, “I remember telling my mother when I was a child that I wanted to be a doctor and she responded 'I would just as soon think of paying to have thee shut up in a lunatic asylum as to have thee study medicine.' The University broadened my mental horizon. Opposition increased my power of resistance, deepened my determination to prove that I had both the ability and the right to become a physician and to practice medicine beside the best men in the profession.”
Sheila Tucker is the Cayuga County historian.
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