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Show 173 pay, plus fee-free training classes, was later forced to close for lack of funds. Once given a toe-hold in the medical profession, the ladies gradually climbed to such prominence that their male colleagues sometimes felt dominated. The Exponent carried advertising by and for women medics. The Relief Societies, state-wide, called and funded several women apiece to go to Salt Lake for training in obstetrics, then had their graduates set apart by the Priesthood for these professional callings. "The Mormon Church itself publicly endorsed the medical women in August 1878 when Ellis Shipp, Margaret Curtis Shipp, Romania Pratt, and Martha Paul were set apart by the Mormon elders to practice o medicine among the Saints." WOMEN DOCTORS IN EARLY UTAH Romania Bunnell Pratt (later Penrose) was the first Utah woman to graduate in medicine from an Eastern College (1877); Ellis was second (1878);9 then in 1883, five years later, Maggie (Margaret Curtis Shipp-later Roberts) finished her training. Others of the period were Elvira S. Barney, and Mattie Paul Hughes (also known later as Martha Hughes Cannon). As Romania and Maggie will be treated in a later section, we shall look briefly at a few of the others. Since these women are not our primary subjects, we have not researched widely for their data. Elvira Stevens Barney Born in 1832, Dr. Barney was 15 years older than Ellis. Her |
