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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER , YEIIrS OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grade Salt Lake Citl7. I'T 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3303 " Aunt P'lina" Studied Medicine in Her 60s PAULINPAII ELPs WAS BORN ON MARCH2 0, 1827, in Lawrence, Illinois. Her mother died when she was 14, leaving her with the responsibility of her father's large family and home until he remarried. In January 1846 at age 19 she married LDS Apostle Arnasa M. Lyman. She drove a four- horse team across Iowa to pay her way in the Mormon exodus. Her first child was born in Winter Quarters. Meanwhile, she nursed the ailing wife of the man whose team she was driving. When the wife died, Paulina cared for the couple's children for a time. She arrived in Salt Lake City in 1848, living in the old fort for one year. In the late 1850s she moved to Parowan, Iron County. There she cared for her sister wife Cornelia, nursing her through her last illness and then taking her two boys to raise. Paulina was left a widow with eight sons and a daughter of her own to care for. She toiled early and late to support them. Elizabeth S. Wilcox described Paulina's visit to her mother's home in Salt Lake City while she was studying medicine: "' Aunt P'lina,'" said Mrs. Wilcox, giving the popular pronunciation of the name with the long I, ' was tall, straight, and slender. She had light blue eyes, graying hair, and an aquiline nose. Her manner was quiet; she was soft spoken, and yet very positive in knowing what she wished to do. She was also very friendly, carrying always a warm, hospitable air. She wore dark, inconspicuous clothing, white knitted stockings, wool or cotton, according to the season." Wilcox remembered her saying, " Why, I've driven my horse belly- deep in mud with the wheels of the buggy sunk to the hub to get to some of my patients." In Parowan, Paulina had handled emergency cases, but in her 60s she became determined to get proper medical training from one of pioneer Utah's most prominent physicians, Dr. Ellis Reynolds Shipp, who trained many women in obstetrics and other medical skills. Upon Paulina's return to Parowan she gave two local women a thorough course in obstetrics. She assisted at the birth of some 500 children during her practice in southern Utah. Her son, William H. Lyman, noted that ' outside of her professional work as a midwife, she practiced medicine in a general way, and was busy most of the time, taking care of the sick with various ailments.. . . One very remarkable incident was the case of a young girl who, in playing with a powder can, ignited it. The explosion burned her face until all the skin on it hung in blisters and rags. Mother applied linseed oil all over her face and then put a mask on, covering her entire face, and then varnished it .... Her face healed up under that treatment. When the mask was taken off there was not a scar to be seen. She had many patients afflicted with typhoid fever, and scarlet fever, and was extremely successful in her practice. " ( more) On another occasion Indian women in a camp eight miles from Parowan became alarmed about the condition of a young woman about to give birth. They sent one of their number to the little town of Summit for help. There a man hitched his team to a lumber wagon and drove to Parowan to fetch Paulina. Fortunately, she was able to save both mother and baby. Her practice took her to Paragonah as well as Summit. Usually the father of a family came for her with a wagon or sleigh. At home in Parowan she usually walked, carrying her own satchel. Paulina Lyman was unusual and remarkable in seeking medical training in her 60s. It seems likely, given a large family to raise, that she would not have been free of responsibility at home until later in life. She was one of many women, each remarkable in her own way, who assisted at the birth of most of Utah's children until the early 20th century. Source: Claire Noall, " Mormon Midwives, " Utah Historical Quarterly 10 ( 1942). THEH ISTORBLYA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 960409 ( MBM) |
