USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume I > Part 36
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During Phrania's childhood her father filled various pulpits, taking his family with him, so schooling was in a number of places. Phrania had five years of education at Willoughby and was graduated from high school.
Because of her deep interest in nursing and the medical profession, she was permitted to make her home with a married sister at St. Joseph, Mo., while taking nurse's training there. When this was completed Miss Chesbrough accepted the position of supervisor of a nurses training school connected with a hospital at Crestline, Ohio.
It was while here she definitely decided to enlarge her scope of accom- plishments by taking a medical course, so resigned and returned to St. Joseph to enter a medical school there from which she was graduated in 1898. She took post-graduate work in New York, in London and in Berlin. For 11 years she practiced in St. Joseph, having offices with her brother-in-law, Dr John Bell.
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To be near her mother and because her own health required a change of climate, Dr. Chesbrough came to Willoughby in 1909. She opened an office in the Cleveland Trust Block. Later she moved to Second street, where she and her sister Anna lived and had their offices in the same house. Her prac- tice continued to grow and the arrangement was no longer adequate so a home with office connections was built at 32 Euclid Avenue, where Dr. Chesbrough still, in 1939, is ministering to both body and soul of the sick and suffering for miles in every direction.
No one is better known in Lake County for deeds of mercy than Dr. Chesbrough. To her, religion is vital and an everyday experience. She feels deeply that she is a co-laborer in the vineyard and that having committed her way unto the Lord, he will direct her path.
JOSEPHINE K. DIRION
JOSEPHINE K. DIRION, widely known oculist and surgeon, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, took her premedical college work at Western Reserve University and her M. D. at Ohio State University.
She was given the degree of Master of Science by the University of Pennsylvania.
She is not only chief of staff of the Cleveland Woman's Hospital but is also instructor in Opthalmology at Western Reserve and oculist-surgeon asso- ciated with Dr. William H. Phillips, of Cleveland.
Dr. Dirion has been an officer and board member of outstanding medical organizations, and author of scientific and other articles in leading medical journals.
JEANETTE ERSKINE
JEANETTE ERSKINE, of Steubenville, Ohio, one of the first women physicians in the state, practiced from 1894 until her death five years ago. She was born and raised in Jefferson County, a daughter of the late David Erskine. She graduated from the Cleveland University of Medicine in 1894, was a member of the state Medical Society and the American Institute of Homeopathy.
MABEL E. GARDNER
Among the women who are prominent representatives of the medical profession in Ohio is numbered DR. MABEL E. GARDNER of Middletown, who is chief of the obstetrical staff of the Middletown Hospital, and who is also connected with various lines of constructive work especially for the benefit of girls of the community. Born in Preble County, Ohio, the Doctor is a daughter of William I. and Elizabeth Gardner. Her preliminary educational work was done while under the parental roof and later she matriculated at
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Otterbein College, where she won her Bachelor of Arts degree. Having then determined upon her life work, she next entered the Medical College of the University of Cincinnati and in due time gained her professional degree. She is now clinical instructor in gynecology at the Medical College where she was graduated in addition to serving as chief of the obstetrical staff of Middletown Hospital and taking care of her private practice. She keeps abreast with modern professional thought and research through wide reading and study and through her membership in the Medical Women's National Association and the American Medical Association and she is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Gardner's interest in progressive activities of Middletown has been of far-reaching effect and benefit. She is serving on the board of governors of the Civic Association and the board of health, is also on the governing board of the Girls' Club and the Girl Reserve Council. She is likewise a trustee of Otterbein College and she is well known as the author of various articles dealing with her professional work. She resides at 129 S. Main street in Middletown and has an extensive circle of warm friends in this city.
MABELLE S. GILBERT
MABELLE S. GILBERT has been successfully engaged in the practice of medicine for forty-one years and since 1915 has been in Cleveland. She was born in Hastings, Michigan and is a daughter of George H. and Anna (Newton) Spaulding, both of whom were born near Albion, in Erie County, Pennsylvania.
In her early girlhood Dr. Gilbert entered the public schools of Hastings, Michigan and when eleven years of age accompanied her parents on their removal to Edinboro, Pennsylvania, where in due course of time she attended high school and later was graduated from the State Normal with the class of 1892. For three years thereafter she taught school and then entered the Huron Homeopathic College, for she had determined to make the practice of medi- cine her life work. She was there graduated in 1897 and opened an office in Conneaut, Ohio, where she remained for three years. She then went to Ashtabula, Ohio, where she followed her profession for twelve years and in 1915 came to Cleveland where she has been a well known member of the medical profession for almost a quarter of a century.
In the meantime Dr. Mabelle Spaulding had become the wife of Charles E. Gilbert, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, who had located in Cleveland prior to their marriage and was an engineer on the New York Central Railroad. Dr. Gilbert has reared his little daughter and also an adopted son.
In 1903 the Doctor pursued a post graduate course in the New York Medi- cal School, after which she returned; to Cleveland and resumed practice here. She has always kept abreast with the trend of professional progress through reading and study and through her connection with the American Institute
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of Homeopathy, the Cuyahoga County Medical and the Ohio State Medical Societies. She is on the medical staff of the Woman's Hospital and is president of its board of trustees. She is also on the medical staff of the Huron Road Hospital and enjoys a large private practice.
In addition to her professional connections Dr. Gilbert has membership in the Zonta Club, the Woman's City Club and the Business and Professional Women's Club and has ever enjoyed the warm regard of a constantly increas- ing circle of friends.
FLORENCE SMITH GOODHUE
FLORENCE SMITH GOODHUE of Cardington, Morrow County, who was born November 17, 1861, is a member of a pioneer Morrow County family; her great-grandfather, Rev. Simeon Smith, of the Baptist Church, having also been a valiant soldier in the Revolution. He is buried in Morrow County.
Dr. Goodhue studied medicine in Cleveland and served Cardington and the surrounding community for more than 30 years as a capable and strenuous physician and surgeon, in the horse and buggy days, she at that time being the first and only woman physician in the county. With her husband, Mr. Walter Goodhue, she now makes her home in Sanibel, Florida, having retired from active practice of medicine.
MARY BROWN GRAHAM
MARY BROWN GRAHAM, who since 1920 has engaged in the practice of medicine, spending the greater part of this time in Zanesville, her native city, is a daughter of John F. Brown, who was one of the prominent bankers and wholesale grocers of Zanesville, where he carried on business until his death in March, 1939, the city thus losing one of its representative and honored residents. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Evans, is still living and is quite active in church and philanthropic work.
Dr. Graham, who was reared in Zanesville, obtained her early education in parochial schools here and afterward attended Ohio State University. It was her earnest wish to become a member of the medical profession and to this end she entered the Williams Medical College of Pennsylvania, from which she was graduated with the class of 1920 and received her degree. She served her interneship at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then spent a year as resident physician at a hospital in Pittsburgh, after which she returned to Zanesville, where she has since practiced. For some time she maintained an office in the business district, but in more recent years has had her office at her residence, 1245 Blue Avenue. She is a member of the staff of the Good Samaritan Hospital and is on the board of the Muskingum County Tuberculosis Hospital. She has membership in the Ohio State Med-
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ical Society and while in college she became a member of the Beta Zeta Phi, a medical college fraternity and of Charity Circle.
It was on the 23rd of July, 1925, that Dr. Mary Brown became Dr. Graham through her marriage to Ernest B. Graham, a prominent attorney of Zanesville, and they now have five children-John C., Ernest B., Mary Louise, James F. and Charles E. The family are communicants of the Catholic Church and Dr. Graham is interested in all civic and charitable activities of the city.
GRACE E. HASKIN
GRACE E. HASKIN, a representative of the medical profession in Cleveland since 1934, is a native of Cheboygan County, Michigan, and a daughter of William and Vernie (Tromble) Haskin. The father was born in Canada and crossing the border into the United States, he located at the little town of Aloha, near Cheboygan, where he engaged in merchandising, there remaining until his death, which occurred when he was sixty-five years of age. His wife, who was born in the state of New York, has also passed away.
While spending her girlhood under the parental roof, Dr. Haskin at- tended the public schools of her native town and subsequently entered Lake Erie College at Painesville, Ohio. Having determined to take up the practice of medicine as a life work, she next enrolled as a student in Western Reserve University, where she was graduated in 1931. She then put her theoretical knowledge to the practical test at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, gaining that broad experience which can never be acquired as surely and rapidly in any other way as in hospital practice. She then opened an office in Cleveland, being now located at 10515 Carnegie Avenue and she specializes in internal medicine. As she has given proof of her ability, her practice has steadily increased, and holding to the highest ethical standards of the profession she not only enjoys the high respect of the general public but also of her professional colleagues and contemporaries. She keeps fully informed con- cerning modern thought and methods through her membership in the Cleve- land Academy of Medicine, the Cuyahoga County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
MARY K. ISHAM
MARY K. ISHAM was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Asa B. and Mary Keyt Isham. She took her A.B. at Wellesley College, her M.A. at the University of Cincinnati. Was accorded a fellowship by the University of Chicago and also-in psychology and physiology-by Bryn Mawr. Her M.D. was conferred in 1903 by the Medical College of Cincinnati.
For several years Dr. Isham was neurologist at Cornell Dispensary and later she served on the staff of the Columbia State Hospital. Dr. Isham
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has been active in leading medical organizations and is the author of im- portant articles published in medical journals of this country and of Europe.
LUCILLE KEMP
An able representative of the medical profession in Ohio and widely known particularly in the field of obstetrics, in which she specializes, was born in Kenton, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. G. W. Kemp, who was one of the very well known physicians of his day. After serving as a surgeon in the Civil War, he returned to Kenton, where his remaining days were passed in active professional service. He married Ervilla Snow, who was born in Hardin County, Ohio, and was one of the pioneer school teachers of her section of the state.
Their daughter, DR. LUCILLE KEMP, attended the public schools of Kenton and in young womanhood began reading medicine in her father's office. Later she enrolled as a student in the Fort Wayne College of Medicine and after her graduation there began practice in Cincinnati. Subsequently she pursued a post graduate course in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and a little later she came to Bucyrus, where her long professional service has continued to the present time and has brought to her success and an enviable position in medical circles. While she engages in general practice, she has given more than ordinary attention to obstetrical work and can boast of having brought one patient's first and tenth child into the world. Her patronage has steadily increased with the passing years and has long been one of grati- fying proportions, her success being due to the fact that at all times she keeps in touch with modern methods, resulting from scientific research. She belongs to the Crawford County Medical Society of which for two years she served as secretary, and she is also a member of the Ohio State and American Medical Associations.
Dr. Kemp is a member of the Presbyterian Church. She has always been particularly fond of music and in years gone by was very proficient in piano playing, while her love of the art enables her to get her greatest enjoyment from well interpreted musical compositions.
NELIA B. KENNEDY
NELIA B. KENNEDY, physician, prominent civic and club leader, was one of the three women that, to date, have practiced in Findlay, O., where she served the community for 20 years.
Nelia Kennedy was graduated from Toledo Medical College in 1896. She became state and later national councilor of the Daughters of America and was also prominent in work of American Legion Auxiliary.
A native of Warsaw, Ind., Dr. Kennedy was born June 20, 1862, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Grose. She received her early education
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in Warsaw before the family moved to Findlay. Prior to her marriage to L. E. Kennedy in 1884, she taught school. After her marriage, however, she took up the practice of medicine. She obtained her pre-medical training at Findlay College.
INEZ LAPSLEY
Inez Lapsley, gynecologist on the staff of Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, is among the medical women who have achieved a special position in their profession. She was educated at Laura Memorial Medical College, is an active member of the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. She is also affiliated with the Ohio Medical Association and with the American Medical Association.
Dr. Lapsley was born in McAfee, Ky., in 1874. Her father was a phy- sician, Dr. John B. Lapsley, and her mother, Eugenia Armstrong, was the daughter of a physician, Dr. William Armostrong, of Kentucky. A brother, Dr. J. P. Lapsley, was also a physician and practiced in McAfee, where his father was a leading citizen.
Dr. Inez Lapsley has practiced in Cincinnati since 1902. She served her interneship in the former Presbyterian Hospital from 1901 to 1902 and has been on the staff of Christ Hospital since 1929.
GEORGIA MERRIMAN
GEORGIA MERRIMAN was the first woman physician to practice in Bucyrus. She was also the initiator of the movement for the Bucyrus Public Library.
At a meeting of Bucyrus women in November of 1894 she made a motion that the Bucyrus Memorial Library should be organized. Two months later, Jan. 2nd, 1895, this same group of women organized themselves as trustees and elected Dr. Merriman president. The first library was housed in a store room in the business district and later the present brick structure was built. Daughter of Dr. Willis Merriman, president of the Fort Wayne division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Georgia Merriman obtained her medical education in an eastern university that did not look kindly upon women in medicine, and she began her practice in Bucyrus in 1879. She is credited with inventing a health food, one of the first. Her father who came to Bucyrus in 1827 from New York, where he was born in 1801, practiced medicine, later engaged in the mercantile business, and then became first president of the Ohio and Indiana Railroad Company which in 1855 consolidated with the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company. He died in 1873. Mrs. Willis Merriman was Martha Lois Cook of Mansfield. Dr. Georgia Merriman after practicing here more than a dozen years went to Columbus where she continued her pro- fessional and civic services.
DR. GEORGIA MERRIMAN
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VERA VIOLA NORTON
VERA VIOLA NORTON is Associate Medical Director of the Hamilton County Tuberculosis Sanatorium where her excellent service has helped to enhance the fine reputation of this important institution.
She was born at Waverly, Iowa, educated at Northwestern University and at the medical school of this college. Dr. Norton is actively identified with the medical progress of her adopted city.
LUCY ORINTHA OXLEY
LUCY ORINTHA OXLEY, director of Student Health in Wilberforce University at Xenia, is the only Negro woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine.
Daughter of the Reverend Edmund Harrison Oxley, pastor at St. Andrew's Episcopal church in Cincinnati since 1912, Dr. Oxley was inspired to become a physician by three uncles, all physicians, and one an F. R. C. S., and a graduate of Edinburgh.
Believer in setting precedents, she was the only woman in a class of ninety-three men at the College of Medicine, sixty-seven of whom were gradu- ated with her. Her medical career was financed by the Schmidlapp Fund for Girls.
Born in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1912, Dr. Oxley came to Cincinnati when she was three months old. She was educated in the Cincinnati public schools and was valedictorian of her class at Dyer high school.
She entered the University of Cincinnati in 1929 taking the combined six year Liberal Arts and Medical course. She was graduated with a B. S. degree in 1934, and received her M. B. in 1935 and her M. D. in 1936, after an interne- ship at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D. C. She took her National Medi- cal Board examinations at Johns Hopkins, Duke University, University of Illi- nois and University of Chicago.
For a year she was director of Student Health in Bennett College, Greens- boro, N. C. Her position at Wilberforce was created for her in 1937 by the administration. She maintains her private practice in Cincinnati on week-ends.
Dr. Oxley is intensely interested in surgery and she is working to perfect herself in this field. She has carried on work in the white wards and clinics of the Cincinnati General Hospital and engaged in special research in gastro- enterology among Negro'children both in Cincinnati and Chicago.
Of the three Negro Colleges that are members of the National Student Health Association, two of them, Bennett College and Wilberforce University, owe their affiliation to Dr. Oxley's initiative.
A brilliant student, Dr. Oxley, although a young woman, is a striking example of women of her race who have forged ahead and achieved recogni- tion.
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Her father Edmund Harrison Oxley, was born in Trinidad, British West Indies, in 1881. He was educated in Queen's Royal College, England, and received his S. T. B. at Harvard University in 1909. He was ordained a priest in 1907 and held charges in Maryland, Washington, D. C., and Pennsylvania before coming to Cincinnati. Her mother, the late Esther Turner Oxley, was a graduate of Teachers' College, Howard University, and was an educator in Virginia, West Chester, Pa., and Atlantic City. Dr. Oxley has a sister, Eliza- beth, student at the University of Cincinnati, and brother, Edmund, a junior law student at the Y. M. C. A.
HELENA T. RATTERMAN
To HELENA T. RATTERMAN, assistant professor of obstretics of the Cincinnati College of Medicine, is due in large measure the development of what is now the Out Patient Obstetrical Department of the Cincinnati General Hospital.
Prenatal care, now recognized as an important factor in the practice of obstetrics, had its organized beginning in Cincinnati with the Maternity Society under Dr. Robert Hart.
In 1917 Dr. Ratterman took over the direction of Maternity Society, with which she was closely associated ten years. During this period she not only continued the prenatal clinic started by Dr. Hart but fostered its growth into the present General Hospital Out Patient Obstetrical Department.
In addition Dr. Ratterman cooperated in the establishment by the Maternity Society of several other prenatal clinics, located in the basin of the city, which are now of important services in the care of expectant mothers.
Helena Ratterman was born in Cincinnati, the daughter of Bernard and Sophie Eckert Ratterman. She received her A.B. and her M.A. from the University of Cincinnati and her M.D. from the College of Medicine of that University.
In addition to the duties of her professorship and of a large private practice, Dr. Ratterman has found time for important civic and welfare service. She was first vice president of the Medical Women's Association-a president of the Cincinnati Medical Women's Association-is a board member of the American Association of University Women and one of the leaders of the Woman's City Club.
The active interest and energy of Dr. Ratterman has extended to athletics and she has won a number of important tennis championships.
CARRIE A. RICHESON
Since the completion of her medical studies in Lebanon College, CARRIE A. RICHESON has engaged in the practice of her profession in Bellefontaine and from the first has had recognition as one of the able physicians of the city, who, thorough and conscientious in her work, has rendered a valuable
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service to those who have sought her assistance and who at all times has enjoyed the confidence and respect of her professional colleagues and con- temporaries in Logan County.
The Doctor is a daughter of John T. and Sarah U. (Llewellen) Richeson. The Taylor family was of Quaker stock and belonged to the branch of the family that came from the Brandywine. Her Grandfather and Grandmother Llewellen were natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively and the former was a noted hunter and trader of the early days. It was his daughter Cedora, a sister of Mrs. Sarah Richeson, who was one of the founders of Central Normal College at Danville, Ohio, where she held a professorship for twenty-four years. John T. Richeson, daughter of Dr. Richeson, was a brick manufacturer, who died in 1895, while his wife survived until 1926. They were the parents of seven children: Carrie A .; Josie, the wife of Earl Carr and a resident of Lima, Ohio; Olive and Oliver, twins, who died at the age of six months; Martha, the wife of Earl Couch; Mary, deceased; and John Lloyd, who is in the office of the Big Four Railroad in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After attending the grade schools and graduating from the high school of Bellefontaine, Dr. Richeson did normal school work at Danville, Indiana, pursuing both scientific and classical courses at the Central Normal College. She then enrolled as a medical student in Lebanon College, from which she was graduated in due time. She then opened an office in Bellefontaine, where she has since practiced and she has taken post-graduate work in the Poly- Clinic Hospital at Chicago, Illinois. From the beginning she gave her atten- tion largely to women and children, not as a specialist but as a general practioner. Her place in the profession was acknowledged by the male members of the calling from the start and when occasion demanded she helped her professional brethren in operations, for at that day there were not many nurses available. She now has a nephew who is an interne in the Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland. Dr. Richeson belongs to the Logan County. Ohio State and American Medical Associations, and is always well informed on those subjects which indicate the progressive trend in medical and surgical practice.
The Doctor worked a great deal for suffrage in the period before the women were enfranchised and she has also served as secretary of the League of Women Voters. She attends the Methodist Church. She enjoys painting in water colors, making hooked rugs, crocheting and doing other fancy work and to these largely devotes the hours not demanded in her professional work, which has been her first consideration since she opened an office in Bellefontaine.
JOSEPHINE RILEY
For more than thirty-eight years JOSEPHINE RILEY has engaged in the practice of medicine in Chillicothe, opening an office here in 1901. Through
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