Mary J. Safford
Mary Jane Safford-Blake | |
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Humanitarian |
Mary Jane Safford-Blake (December 31, 1834 – December 8, 1891) was a nurse, physician, educator, and humanitarian. As a
Early life
Mary Jane Safford was born in Hyde Park, Vermont, the youngest of five children of Joseph Safford, a farmer, and Diantha Little Safford. She attended schools in Vermont, Illinois, and Montreal, Quebec. She then returned to Illinois, where she lived with her older brother and taught in a public school in Shawneetown.[1]
Medical career
At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Safford volunteered as a relief worker in Cairo, Illinois, where she became known as the "Cairo Angel". It was there that she met "Mother" Bickerdyke, who trained her as a nurse. In 1862, she accompanied the army of Ulysses S. Grant during the Battle of Shiloh, where she comforted and ministered to the wounded. Later, she served aboard a pair of military hospital ships on the Mississippi, the City of Memphis and the Hazel Dell.[1] "Worn down" and frail, she left for Europe in July 1862. After visits to Great Britain and Ireland her party spent the winter in Paris and Italy.[2]
After the war, Safford studied medicine, graduating from the
In 1872, Safford opened a private practice in
As a physician in Boston's
Personal life
Safford married James Blake in 1872 and adopted two daughters, Margarita and Gladys. After her marriage, she used the name Mary Jane Safford-Blake. The couple divorced in 1880.[1]
Safford was involved in the
She retired in 1886 due to poor health and spent her later years in
Publications
- Dress-Reform: a series of lectures on dress as it affects the health of women, 1874.
- Papers, read at the second congress of women, Chicago, October 15, 16, and 17, 1874 : a plea for fallen women, 1874.
- Lac Defloratum, 1874.
- The Etiology and Infectiousness of Puerperal Fever, 1875.
- Pre-natal influence, 1878.
- Health and strength for girls, 1884.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Safford, Mary Jane (1834–1891)". Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Gale Research. 2002.
- ^ Livermore, Mary A., "Miss Mary J. Safford", The New Covenant. Chicago, 28 June 1862
- ^ Howley, Kathleen (June 5, 1999). "History was made on Dorchester's Meeting House Hill". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
- ^ a b c Sammarco, Anthony (November 4, 1994). "Meeting House Hill's Safford-Blake paved way for 19th c. women doctors" (PDF). Dorchester Community News.
- ^ a b "Mary Jane Safford Blake". Dorchester Atheneum.
- ^ ISBN 9781493905270.
- ^ "South End". Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
Further reading
- Fischer, Leroy H., "Cairo's Civil War Angel, Mary Jane Stafford." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, No. 54, 1961.
- Massey, Mary Elizabeth (1994). Women in the Civil War. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803282133.
External links
- Works by Mary J. Safford at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Mary J. Safford at Internet Archive
- Works by Mary J. Safford at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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