Mary was born 15 April 1829 in Fort Ann, New York. Her parents were John Harris Thompson and Calista Corbin Thompson.
She attended school at Fort Edward Institute in Fort Edward, New York and at West Poultney Academy in Vermont.
Name | Sex | Age | Occupation | Birth Place |
John H Thompson | M | 51 years | New York | |
Caliste Thompson | F | 49 years | New York | |
Emily Thompson | F | 26 years | New York | |
Mary Thompson | F | 22 years | New York | |
Amelia Thompson | F | 20 years | New York | |
Lamb A Thompson | F | 18 years | New York | |
John H Thompson | M | 16 years | New York | |
Laura B Thompson | F | 14 years | New York | |
James Y Thompson | M | 12 years | New York | |
Herbert J Thompson | M | 10 years | New York |
In 1860, Mary decided to become a physician. She enrolled in the New England Female Medical College in Boston. Included in her studies was a one-year internship at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children under Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. She graduated in 1863 and moved to Chicago, Illinois. In July, in the midst of the Civil War, she worked for the Northwestern Sanitary Commission (a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission), caring for women and children who had lost their husbands and fathers in the war.
As was true with all women doctors at the time, Mary was not able to practice medicine at hospitals because she was a woman. In Chicago, women were not permitted to be on hospital staffs, and one hospital did not admit women as patients. Seeing an enormous number of women and children needing medical care and support, she set out to create a hospital for them staffed only by women. With the support of wealthy Chicago women who raised funds and would manage administrative duties, and of male doctors who would serve as consulting physicians, the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children opened in May 1865. Mary was head physician and surgeon, and chief of staff from the opening of the hospital until her passing.
As more women sought medical training, they found that colleges would admit them – again because they were women. Mary and her colleague Dr. William Byford, chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women at the Chicago Medical College, changed that by establishing the Woman's Hospital Medical College affiliated with the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children in 1870.
The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 completely destroyed the hospital and college. Both were reopened in new, larger facilities in 1873 and the "First Nurses Training School in the Middle West" was opened in 1874.
Mary published and presented several papers on women's health and childhood diseases, and was a member of the American Medical Association.
She passed away 21 May 1895 in Chicago, Illinois and is buried at Fort Ann Cemetery in Fort Ann, New York.[2][3]
Shortly after her death, the Hospital was renamed the Mary Thompson Hospital for Women and Children.
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T > Thompson > Mary Harris Thompson MD
Categories: Fort Ann, New York | Nurses, United States Civil War | Chicago, Illinois | Illinois, Physicians | Surgeons | Illinois, Teachers | Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, New York