Hettie (Kersey) Painter
Privacy Level: Open (White)

Esther (Kersey) Painter (1820 - 1889)

Esther (Hettie) Painter formerly Kersey
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United Statesmap
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of — married 19 Feb 1840 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United Statesmap
Died at age 69 in Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sue LaVoie private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 22 Feb 2023
This page has been accessed 104 times.


Biography

Hettie (Kersey) Painter was born in Pennsylvania.
Hettie received medical degree before the Civil War, organized the first hospital south of the Potomac River, and was commissioned by New Jersey and Pennsylvania governors to supervise and nurse at hospitals and in the field.
Hettie (Kersey) Painter was interred in Nebraska.

Esther most often went by the name "Hettie".

Hettie was born 2 Jun 1820 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Joseph Kersey and Charity Cope Kersey, and granddaughter of Quaker preacher, Jesse Kersey. Her parents died when she was young and she was adopted by her uncle and aunt, Mordecai and Esther Hayes.

She married Joseph H. Painter on 19 Feb 1840 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. [1] [2] [3]

Hettie and Joseph moved to Ohio, where, being active supporters of the anti-slavery movement, their home was always open to fugitive slaves. In 1850 the couple and their two sons were living in Hardy Township, Holmes, Ohio. (Esther was recorded as E K and son Jesse K as Jepe G K). [4]

HouseholdRoleSexAgeBirthplaceOccupation
Joseph H PainterheadM31Pennsylvaniatelegrapher
E K PainterwifeF28Pennsylvania
Jepe G K PaintersonM9Pennsylvania
Leicester M H PaintersonM5Ohio

In about 1852 the couple returned to Philadelphia and then to Camden, New Jersey, and she continued her medical studies. From childhood, Hettie had an interest in studying medicine. Hettie graduated from Pennsylvania Medical University in 1860 and submitted a thesis titled "Electricity as a Remedial Agent". At the time of the 1860 Census, the family was living in North Ward City of Camden, New Jersey. (Esther was recorded as Hester and son Leicester as Leister). [5]

HouseholdRoleSexAgeBirthplaceOccupation
Joseph H PainterheadM38Pennsylvaniatelegraph office
Hester PainterwifeF35Pennsylvania
Leister PaintersonM14Ohio

When the Civil War broke out, Hettie offered her services to General Philip Kearny and was assigned to organize the first hospital south of the Potomac River at the Theological Seminary, and oversee forty men assigned as her assistants. After the first battle of Bull Run, she was given commissions from Governor Parker of New Jersey and Governor Curtain of Pennsylvania, and joined the army in the hospitals and on the field. General Grant gave her a free pass on all railroads and steamboats, with orders to officers to assist her in her work. She was constantly on the move, visiting Washington to report on conditions, supervising hospitals at Brandy Station, and nursing at Aquia Creek, Fredericksburg, and City Point. At the surrender of General Lee, and until all troops had been removed, Hettie worked at different Washington, D.C. hospitals and frequently accompanied the sick and wounded to northern hospitals and their homes.

She was described as "a living example of the usefulness of a lady in the army, who can frequently effect more good by personal influence than would be allowed through regular channels" (Union Army nurse Adelaide Smith).

After the war, Hettie practiced medicine in Washington, D.C., and Alexandria and Richmond, Virginia, until about 1870. At the time of the 1870 Census, Joseph and Hettie were living in Richmond, Henrico, Virginia. (Hettie was recorded as Hattie). [6]

HouseholdRoleSexAgeBirthplaceOccupation
Joseph H PainterheadM52Pennsylvaniaclerk in State Treasury
Hattie PainterwifeF51Pennsylvania
Julia Rossdomestic servantF21Virginia

In about 1870, she visited her sons, pioneers in the Union Pacific Rail Road, in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory and Corinne, Utah Territory. She settled in Salt Lake, Utah where her medical expertise served patients including family members of President Bringham Young and Bishop John Sharp. When her health failed, the closed her practice and moved first to Colorado and then to Lincoln, Nebraska, where her husband Joseph was the editor of a farm journal.

Within a year of arriving in Lincoln, Hettie was able to resume her practice. She saw the importance of setting up an infirmary where chronic cases could be more successfully treated. The Lincoln Infirmary was the first of its kind in the West, and cared for patients from as far away as Connecticut and California. In the 1880 Census Joseph and Hettie are living in Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska. (Note: the census transcription has many errors, including mixing the occupations of Joseph and Hettie – which I've corrected below – and incorrectly listing Hettie in the Curtin household.). [7]

HouseholdRoleSexAgeBirthplaceOccupation
Jos H PainterheadM62Pennsylvaniapublisher
Hettie K PainterwifeF48Pennsylvaniaphysician
Hanna Smithdomestic servantF19Virginiakeeping house
Charles CossinghamboarderM0Nebraska
Robert HartboarderM42Irelandfarmer
Deland MooreboarderM38New Yorkdruggist

In 1883, Hettie organized the Woman's Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The 1885 Nebraska Census shows the family living in the Lincoln Infirmary. (Joseph H is recorded as Harvey).[8]

HouseholdRoleSexAgeBirthplaceOccupation
Harvey PainterheadM66Pennsylvaniajournalist
Hettie K PainterwifeF62Pennsylvaniaphysician
Jesse K PaintersonM40Pennsylvania
Sarah J Painterdaughter-in-lawF40Pennsylvaniamusician
Ananna H K PaintergranddaughterF20Texas

Hettie was granted a Federal Pension on 9 Jul 1888 for her service – 1 year before her death. [9]

She passed away 8 Aug 1889 in Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska and is buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln.[10]

Her obituary states "the old soldiers have lost a true friend, one ever ready to do good for the veterans in times of peace as she did a quarter of a century ago amid the clash of arms."

Sources

  1. "Pennsylvania, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Marriage Records, 1512-1989", FamilySearch Record: 6CYX-TMM4 (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSCX-2BMD Image number 00082, Esther Kersey marriage to Joseph H Painter on 19 Feb 1840 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States.
  2. "Pennsylvania, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Marriage Records, 1512-1989", FamilySearch Record: 6CYX-TMM4 (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSCX-2BMD Image number 00082, Esther Kersey marriage to Joseph H Painter on 19 Feb 1840 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States.
  3. "Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1885-1950", citing Marriage Registration, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, multiple County Clerks, Pennsylvania, FamilySearch Record: Q28G-KQ1J (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: S3HY-DH4S-XG6 Image number 00398, Esther Kersey marriage to Joseph H Painter on 19 Feb 1840 in Chester, Pennsylvania, United States.
  4. 1850 Census "United States Census, 1850", citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FamilySearch Record: MXQD-GVN (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: S3HY-6LZ9-94M Image number 00017.
  5. 1860 Census "United States Census, 1860", citing Page: 49; Affiliate Publication Number: M653; Affiliate Film Number: 686; FHL microfilm: 803686; Record number: 20946, FamilySearch Record: MFC3-NQZ (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9BSQ-VWP Image number 00545.
  6. 1870 Census "United States Census, 1870", citing Page: 170; Affiliate Publication Number: M593; Line: 21; FHL microfilm: 000553152; Record number: 12912, FamilySearch Record: MFGF-XFG (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: S3HY-6L43-4G8 Image number 00330.
  7. 1880 Census "United States Census, 1880", citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm , FamilySearch Record: M8YF-3W7 (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9YB4-XMF Image number 00392.
  8. 1885 Census "Nebraska State Census, 1885", citing Page: 40; Line: 3, FamilySearch Record: X3FS-27J (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 939N-8C91-4F.
  9. VA Pension "United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934", citing Affiliate Publication Title: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934; Affiliate Publication Number: T288; Affiliate Film Number: 359; FHL microfilm: 541115, FamilySearch Record: QJDG-VJPH (accessed 23 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9T18-DWP Image number 00018, Name: Hettie K Painter; Pension Date: 1888; Pension Place: Nebraska, United States.
  10. Burial Find a Grave (has image), Find A Grave: Memorial #73669005 (accessed 22 February 2023), Memorial page for Dr Esther “Hettie” Kersey Painter (2 Jun 1820-9 Aug 1889), citing Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, USA (plot: Sec-7 Lot-1579 Sp-9.); Maintained by Searching Days Gone By † ღ©1990-2022 (contributor 47144938).
  • Monumental inscription. Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln, Nebraska. 1889 (b. 1820) PAINTER, Hettie Kersey. Photographed by: Find A Grave contributor Mark Griep, ID 47659526.
See also:
  • "On The Field of Mercy", Mercedes Graf, (Amherst, New York, Humanity Books, 2010), Archive.org (Internet Archive), Hettie Kersey Painter, pages 64-66.
  • "Hettie Kersey Painter", "History of American Women, Colonial Women 18th-19th Century Women, Civil War Women" (accessed February 22, 2023).
  • "Hettie Painter", "Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War" (accessed February 22, 2023).
  • "Hettie K. Painter", "History of the State of Nebraska", (Chicago, The Western Historical Company, 1882), Kansas Collection Books (kancoll.org/books).

Acknowledgements

  • Gravesite photo posted with permission of Find A Grave contributor Mark Griep, ID 47659526 as noted in email response to request to use his images on WikiTree: “Yes, feel free to use them.”




Is Hettie your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA
No known carriers of Hettie's DNA have taken a DNA test.

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.