Dr. Susan Anderson

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

The genre I have fallen into as far my writing goes is American Western. Though most of my stories are contemporary, the Early American West is really dear to my heart. The women of the west fascinate me. The hardships they endured following either their men or their own hearts west are amazing. But they went and helped to shape the west and the country as much, if not more, than the men.

One such woman was Dr. Susan Anderson, who practiced medicine in the mining towns of Colorado when women doctors were far and few between.

Susan Anderson, born in 1870, she and her brother were both well-educated by their parents. After her parents’ divorce, she moved with her father and brother to Kansas. There she excelled in Morse code, but when she told her father she wanted to be a telegrapher, William told her to set her sights higher and become a physician.

(Susan with her brother and father)
After graduating high school in 1892, Susan followed her father and step-mother to Colorado. In 1893 she enrolled into the University of Michigan’s medical school. With the handful of other women in the school Susan attended the co-ed lectures, but the anatomy class was separated by the sexes. The school did not think men and women should take this class together.

As Susan attended medical school, she also interned at the local hospital. The hours were grueling and it was at the hospital that she contracted tuberculosis, a disease that plagued her the rest of her life. After graduating in 1897, she turned down a position at the hospital and instead returned to Colorado to practice and to improve her health in the clean air.

(Susan's graduation picture)

There were 55 other doctors in the area she settled, so she drew mostly female patients. However, her proficiency in cleaning wounds and staving off infections—thus prevent amputations—grew her reputation as a good doctor. The thriving practice and clean fresh air did improve her health, as did her engagement to marry a man she loved.
Tragedy struck twice, however, in a short amount of time. First, her fiancée left her at the altar, breaking her heart. Before she could pick up the pieces of her broken engagement, her beloved brother and best friend John died of influenza. Dr. Anderson was sent into a deep depression and to help lift her spirits, she travelled Colorado. Finally settling in Denver, she once again set up a practice, but with a glutton of physicians already in the area, the budding business floundered. She then moved to Greeley and took a job as a nurse in the local hospital.

When a typhoid epidemic struck the area, she decided to leave for the good of her health and moved to Fraser, Co. There, she decided to practice medicine again and opened shop. After proving herself a good doctor, her practice thrived. “She mended bullet wounds, set broken limbs, and even removed abscessed teeth.” She was so admired by the local loggers she treated that they built her a house.

Dr. Anderson became well-known throughout Colorado and the country. Colorado General Hospital recognized her as an exceptional healer and Grand County, Co. appointed her as coroner.

As coroner, she held the commission overseeing the blasting of a tunnel through the mountain accountable for any on-the-job deaths or injuries due to safety negligence. When accidents did happen in the tunnel, she’d travel the six miles into the Moffat Tunnel to give first aid and retrieve dead bodies.

Dr. Anderson practiced for more than 50 years. At age 88, she was hospitalized and lived the remainder of her life in Colorado General Hospital. After her death in 1960, she was buried near her brother in Cripple Creek, Colorado.

Reference:
THE DOCTOR WORE PETTICOATS by Chris Enss

Further reading:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-drsusy.html
http://www.ellensplace.net/hcg_fac3.html

Next month, I’m teaching a class on Pioneering Women of the West. Win a free workshop by leaving a comment. One lucky winner will receive a free workshop registration. Another commenter will win a copy of my ebook SALVATION BRIDE….the heroine is a mail-order bride and practicing physician.

Pioneering Women of the West Workshop
By Anna Kathryn Lanier

August 1-31, 2011
Hearts Through History RWA’s Campus
www.heartsthroughhistory.com

The West was discovered by men looking for adventure and fortune. But it was civilized by women who brought families, schools, churches, and stability to the area.

In PIONEERING WOMEN OF THE WEST, you’ll learn about the western movement, the treacherous journey hundreds of thousands people took and of the lives of specific women who helped shape the West, intentionally or not. Some women went looking for a better life; others followed their man into the wilderness.

There will be three lectures a week, with time for questions and answers and additional research on the participants’ part.


Anna Kathryn Lanier
www.aklanier.com
www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com

Foxfire books and my blog tour

My blog day here happens to fall during my blog tour so I hope you don't mind if I tack on the details of my blog contest to the end of this post.

I think I've found the best books for learning how things were done in the 17 and 1800's. When I find a great resource I like to share. I've used these books to learn how to make brooms, beds, soap, preserve meat, and harvest wild plants for food.

If you don't have these books they are worth getting your hands on if you write American historical stories.

They are the Foxfire books. I have books 1,2,& 3. I bought them used and have found them invaluable. There's no author. They are articles that were first published in Foxfire magazine. I used information in book three to learn about making brooms for my current release Doctor in Petticoats.

Blurb for Doctor in Petticoats
After a life-altering accident and a failed relationship, Dr. Rachel Tarkiel gave up on love and settled for a life healing others as the physician at a School for the Blind. She's happy in her vocation--until handsome Clay Halsey shows up and inspires her to want more.

Blinded by a person he considered a friend, Clay curses his circumstances and his limitations. Intriguing Dr. Tarkiel shows him no pity, though. To her, he's as much a man as he ever was.

Can these two wounded souls conquer outside obstacles, as well as their own internal fears, and find love?

Excerpt
“I’m going to look in your other eye now.” She, again, placed a hand on his face and opened the eyelids, stilling her fluttering heart as she pressed close. His clean-shaven face had a couple small nicks on the edges of his angular cheeks. The spice of his shave soap lingered on his skin.

She resisted the urge to run her cheek against his. The heat of his face under her palm and his breath moving wisps of wayward hair caused her to close her eyes and pretend for a few seconds he could be her husband. A man who loved her and wouldn’t be threatened by her occupation or sickened by her hideous scar.

His breathing quickened. A hand settled on her waist, slid around to her back, and drew her forward. Her hand, holding the lens, dropped to his shoulder, and she opened her eyes. This behavior on both their parts was unconscionable, but her constricted throat wouldn’t allow her to utter the rebuke.

Clay sensed the moment the doctor slid from professional to aroused woman. The hand on his cheek caressed rather than held, her breathing quickened, and her scent invaded his senses like a warm summer rain.

Blog Tour Contest

This is my second day of my fifteen blog/twelve day tour. Leave a comment and follow me to all the blogs on my tour and you could win an autographed copy of my June release, Doctor in Petticoats, a B&N gift card, and a summer tote filled with goodies. To find out all the places I'll be go to my blog- http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com to find the list.

Website: http://www.patyjager.net
Blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com