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Show 172 (Ellis, her husband, and a sister-wife, Margaret Curtis). One son carried on the tradition, and a granddaughter was studying medicine in Washington D.C. when Ellis went there in her later life. Ellis was not alone, after receiving her degree, in disseminating her medical knowledge to others. Romania Pratt (later Penrose) is reported in early Relief Society Magazine editorials as having taught classes each year from the time she returned to Utah as a medical doctor. Some articles say she taught one class per year, while others report that she had two classes per year for 28 years. Classes established by Ellis and Maggie after their return are described as "private" classes. Ellis and Maggie and Romania Pratt, according to Chris Arrington, turned out the "best prepared" midwives in the state. Many unnecessary deaths continued to occur, and concerned Mormon women desired a hospital where Mormon women could be treated without the religious embarrassment they felt in the sectarian hospitals: the Episcopal St. Mark's (est. 1872) and the Catholic Holy Cross (est. 1875), as the Relief Society women performed their washings and anointings. In 1882, in a building formerly used by nuns of Holy Cross Hospital, the Deseret Hospital, serving both as a maternity home and training site for midwives, was established. The forerunner of the excellent facility which later was built on the hill north of the city and would for a time bear the same name, Deseret Hospital, depending upon donations and having the open-handed policies of extending free service to those who could not |
