Mary Anna Cooke Thompson
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Mary Anna Cooke Thompson was a physcian and suffragist.
Life and Education[edit]
Mary Anna Cooke Thompson was born in New York on February 14, 1825. Mary was the first daughter of Horatio N. Cooke, a wood-turner, and Anna Cooke, a governess. At the age of eight Mary was removed from school to assist her mother in the home. At the age of twelve Mary and her family moved to Chicago where she later married a carpenter, Reuben Thompson, in 1848. Shortly, after Mary began studying medicine in 1849. [1]Mary resided in La Salle, Illnois for eighteen years during which she had three sons and two daughters who passed during infancy. While in Chicago, Mary convinced phsyicians Dr. Frances Bry and Dr. Lyman B. Larkin to allow her to study under them, despite the fact that medical schools were closed to women during this timeframe. In 1866 Mary moved to Oregon where she gained a reputation as Portland's first woman physician although she did not have a formal medical degree.[2] Throughout her life Mary was an adovcate for sanitary medical care during childbirth and women's suffrage.
Career[edit]
In Oregon, Mary developed a successful practice by advertising in Portland newspapers as an "Electrician and Eclectic Physician" with "special attention give to female complaints." Her practice soon became a major source of financial support for her family.[1] Mary practiced medicine in Oregon for over forty years.[2]
Activism[edit]
Thompson advocated for the prohibition of alcohol beleiveing that it would end the abuse of women and children by their alcoholic husbands and fathers. This caused some controversy as other suffragists feared prohibiting alcohol would drive away male voters and in turn detriment the movement for women's voting rights.[3] In 1878 Mary gave around forty speeches and lectures on various reform issues between the months of January and June. During this timeframe Mary met with other human rights activists such as Fredrick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. On January 12, 1978 Mary gave a speech to the U.S. Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections in support of a bill that would later become the 19th amendment. This was noted as the first time an Oregon woman had addressed a congressional committee directly about woman suffrage. According to Mary, women were the "consceince of the nation" and "every woman, in the average, is more moral than man." Mary also helped with the Underground Railroad, was a part of the first women's rights society in Illinois, and helped to pass the Women's Property Act.[1]
Death[edit]
Mary passed in Portalnd on May 4, 1919 after suffering a paralytic stroke.[2]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ward, Jean M. (2012). ""The Noble Representative Woman from Oregon": Dr. Mary Anna Cooke Thompson". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 113 (3): 408–429. doi:10.5403/oregonhistq.113.3.0408. ISSN 0030-4727.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Mary Anna Cooke Thompson (1825 - 1919)". www.oregonencyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
- ↑ "State of Oregon: Woman Suffrage - Mary Anna Cooke Thompson (1825-1919)". sos.oregon.gov. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
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