Question of the Week: Do you have any nurses in your family tree?

Question

Do you have any nurses in your family tree? Please tell us about them with an answer below or on Facebook. You can also use the question image on social media so friends and family will see your answer.

Comments

Yes I worked as an RN between 1970-1985 in mmedicine, geriatrics and Home Care. Due to a hereditary tremor then went farming.

Sharon L. (Dewald) Skeels

PS. Aunt Kay (Stewart) Dewald worked as nurse probably in Ireland and here in Canada.

First cousin Marlene (Ensminger) Donovan worked perhaps overeseas, in Mississippi, and here in Canada.

Aunt Marge Ensminger worked for years in operating rooms in Canada.

Rosemary (Ryan) Dewald worked as a RPN in Canada.

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Yes, my sister is a nurse.

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Ruth Yager (Smith) b:1892 was a surgical nurse-She is my 2nd great aunt. Legend has it that she had a special stool in the OR because she was so short!

Then there is me- an RN and now a Family Nurse Practitioner.

I always knew I wanted to be a nurse, and have loved every minute of it!

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Betty (McCracken) Adams was said to be a nurse, and her son is currently a RN

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I worked as an LPN for 20 yrs. Now retired. But still consider myself a nurse. My skills were just as important as anyone else's in the medical field.

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I am unaware of any nurses in our family in previous generations but in my generation there are many.There are 3 girls in our family. I am the oldest and I am a Nurse/ Nurse Practitioner. My middle sister's son just graduated and has begun his career in Nursing. My youngest sister is an Nurse/Nurse Practitioner, her daughter is a Nurse and has now become  a Family Medicine Doctor. So we love and appreciate nurses.

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My mother was for at least 25 years, and also did home health care. As far as I'm aware no one else in my family followed that path.

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I am a nurse, RN and my 3rd cousin is also a nurse, RN. I don't believe there are any other nurses in my family

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My maternal grandmother Carolynn Elizabeth Sawyer, born Carolynn Elizabeth Reem, father Fredrick Reem, was Registered Nurse and was a Sgt. Major at Madigan Army Hospital at Joint Ft. Lewis/McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma Washington. She also worked as an R.N. in Spokane Washington, but I dont know where to be exact.

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In my husband's extended family the girls are nurses and some of the boys are priests.

Answer 1

There were 2 nurses in my family that I know of.

My great aunt, Lucile Mast Sloane served as a nurse in France during World War I.

My mother, Betty Crabaugh Mast, was a Registered Nurse.

Answer 2

My grandmother Winifred Mary Simmonds was an asylum and then private (mental health) nurse, Her oldest sister Margaret Kate was an asylum nurse, her older sister Fanny Mabel was an asylum nurse and matron, her older sister Gertrude May was an asylum nurse and then private nurse, her younger sister Dorothy Alma was an asylum nurse and matron,her younger sister sister Mildred Sarah was an asylum nurse, her younger brother John Knight was a grounds keeper for an Australian asylum, their father Richard Simmonds was an asylum attendant (aka male nurse). So yes I have some nurses in the family tree

Answer 3

We have at least 3 nurses in our family.  First was a great aunt by marriage (not actually in my tree), next was my mother, and now is my daughter.  My daughter is now a nurse practitioner at a large (level 1) trauma center.

Answer 4

Lindsey-4448

There is a lovely picture of Nurse Edna Lindsey on a tropical beach (Thursday Island) during WW2 cuddling a native baby

{{Image|file=Lindsey-4448.jpg
|caption=Edna Raebel nursing a Thursday Island baby
}}

Comments

I don't know why it is so hard to post pictures that actually show up! I tracked down the picture for you. I hope everyone can see it now!

Answer 5

My aunt, Myrtle Brewer, of Maryville, Blount, Tennessee who was an RN and a nursing supervisor.  My great aunt, Asa Evelyn Trotter Henry.  Cousins and nieces and probably more that I can't remember off the top of my head.  My great grandmother was a Mid-Wife.

Answer 6

My grandmother is a nurse, and so's my partner! The three of us have had some fun discussing how different their career experiences have been, across the divide of time and gender.

It was also while nursing that my grandmother first met her husband - she was widowed at the time, and he was bringing in his wife for palliative care at the doctor's office where she worked. Later, after he was also widowed, they were set up by a colleague of hers. "Grandpa Bob" only married my grandma long after my dad was grown and out of the house, but he's the grandpa I remember.

Answer 7

Yes, my mother was a registered nurse and lived it as a calling.

Answer 8

I have 2 sisters - in- law that are nurses.

Answer 9

I did mention my Stepmother but I forgot my Great Aunt Esther Emilia Laurin she was a nurse during WWI. 

On May 24, 1917, she applied in London for an emergency passport to the United Kingdom and France. During 1920 The Army Reorganization Act came into effect. Nurses were granted officer status with "relative rank" from second lieutenant to major but not full rights and privileges. 

Answer 10

My Aunt Helen (Hawkins) McGraw, (left) was a nurse.

Answer 11

My great aunt, Mary Ella Tuttle, was a young graduate of one of the first nursing classes at John Hopkins Hospital in New York City in the 1800’s.  She worked at that hospital for a number of years until the Spanish American War came along and she was chosen by the DAR to be one of the first group of nurses to go out in the battle field to take care of the soldiers.  The nurses were held to the highest standards of ethics, ability and morality.  Until that time no woman was allowed to take of wounded men and they were subject to much criticism for doing so.  She served in Cuba and Florida.  On her return home she was the subject of the gossip at every tea party in her home town of Lenoir, NC.  Though she had chosen a career over marriage and family, she adopted a brother’s two children and raised them as her own.  When someone was sick in the town she was the first one to respond to their need, and became loved by all.  She was also accomplished at hand work such as crocheting,Tating and lace making having gone to France to learn the art.  Truly a great lady in our family.      Lula Tuttle Sinnott

Answer 12

My mother's cousin Dora M. Coover (b. 1918, d. 2000) retired as a full colonel from the U.S. Army Nurse Corps after serving in World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam. She is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, TX.

A painting of her can be seen on her memorial page on Find A Grave.

Answer 13

Thanks,  Greg, for selecting my answer......it brought my attention back to thank the nurses involved in bringing my latest medical examinations up to date, and, also, those nurses who were there for us, not only in the past, but also the future.

Answer 14

My great aunt, Mary Ella Tuttle, was one of the first nurses  to graduate from Johns Hopkins Hospital in New York City.  When she was around 9 or 10 years old her mother died and her father sent her to a girls boarding school in Virginia.  When she was sixteen she returned home to help care for her father and when he died a few years later she she headed for New York to become a nurse.  After she graduated she worked for the hospital until the Spanish American war started and she was chosen by the DAR to be one of the first female nurses to go to the battle field to care for the wounded soldiers.  The women chosen had to meet the highest standard of ethics, ability and morals.  She served in Cuba and Florida.  When the war was over she returned to work in New York for a short time before returning to her home town of Lenoir, NC.  She was the subject of gossip at every tea party in town and rediculed for having taken care of males.  She was, however, the first to appear on the doorstep of anyone who was sick and endeared herself to everyone whose lives she touched.  Though she gave up marrying and having a family of her own, she adopted the two children of one of her brothers and raised them as her own.  I had the good fortune to meet her when I was a small child and she visited my grand mother who was the widow of her brother, Preston Pierce Tuttle.  She died around 1935.    Lula. Tuttle Sinnott

Answer 15

I have found a few nurses on my Dad's side of the family. His paternal Aunt Alice and his maternal first cousin (Mills) and her daughter. All three received their degrees at Massachusetts teaching schools.

Answer 16

My cousin, Mary Lou Lister Pitaro is a cardiac intensive care nurse in Tucson, Arizona, USA. She was born  in 1959 in Bristol, CT, USA. She has an MS in Nursing.

Answer 17

The ones that I can think of off the top of my head are a favorite aunt, a great aunt, a niece, a great-grandniece, several cousins (in multiple generations) and I have a great grandniece that is a phlebotomist (don't think that is how you spell it, lol) that is talking about going back to get her full nursing degree.

And I might as well have been since I have been patching up people most of my life.  My mom couldn't stand the sight of blood so I got to do all the cleaning of cuts and patching them up starting when I was a kid.

Answer 18

My third cousin twice removed, Dorothy Bannon (1885 - 1940)  [[Bannon-69|Dorothy Edith Bannon (1885-1940)]] was a prominent nurse in London at the beginning of the last century.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Bannon.

Dorothy Edith Bannon was a prominent nurse, and managed the entire London county hopsital system. She trained at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St Thomas's Hospital, London, from 1913 to 1916, gaining a silver medal. In 1919 she received a Nursing scholarship to Kings College for Women. She went on to be a Member of the College of Nursing.

In 1920 she was night superintendent at St Thomas. In 1922 she was "matron" of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where she gained a reputation for efficiency and smooth operations, and was described as a "remarkably clever woman".

In 1929 she was appointed "Matron in Chief" of the London County Council system of hospitals, assisted by three "principal matrons". She and her assistants were instrumental in standardizing nursing routines, equipment, and procedures.

She remained in her position at the London County Council until her death in 1940.

Answer 19

My mother was an RN and my father's sister, niece, and other female relatives were nurses or worked in administration positions in hospitals.

Answer 20

I am a retired nurse . I commenced my initial nursing education in Dunedin, New Zealand and further nursing education in Tasmania, Australia. My sister is a nurse, 2 cousins, 1 aunt, a second cousin, 2 nieces, 1 a midwife  and a great grandmother who was apparently a midwife.

In addition my father was a medical orderly serving in the Middle East during WW2 and my Great uncle was in the ambulance Corp WW1 and sadly killed in France in 1917.