Educated Driven and Direct
Dr. Jennie C. Murphy, Yankton’s First Female Physician
vBy Chauntel Wright
Take a moment and imagine it
is 1865 and you a thirteen-yearold young girl. Your sister, two
brothers, and you are growing up in
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, a populated
area located across the Ohio River
from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The outskirts of town are rural and
agricultural; however, the city is
highly industrious. Pennsylvania
has been immersed in defending
the Union in the Civil War which
is nearing its end that same year in
April. Your father Major Hugh B.
Murphy is a veteran and announces
your family will be moving to the
Dakota Territory.
I can only imagine what young
Jennie was thinking. “Where is the
Dakota Territory?” “What is it like
there?” “Isn’t it dangerous there?”
She must have contemplated leaving
her friends and family behind to go
live in an area which was rough and
tumble and full of challenges.
The family packed-up and made the long and rugged trek west.
They arrived, settled, and Major Murphy opened a livery stable selling
horses on what is now Douglas Avenue. Jennie and her siblings
attended the Old Central School which was located where the Yankton
Community Library now stands. While in school, she learned
bookkeeping and went to work for a local lumber yard managing their
ledgers.
Upon graduation, she became employed by Dr. James Buchanan
where she continued using her trade. Dr. and Mrs. Buchanan saw
Jennie’s intelligence and potential and they encouraged her to attend
medical school. This piqued her interest and she began making plans
on how to attend medical school.
Historically, women working outside of the home was rare
especially in male dominated professions such as doctors and lawyers.
Women typically upheld traditional roles raising and educating their
children, reading the Bible, cooking, cleaning, mending, and tending
to their husbands needs. While these were standard roles for both city
and country women, it was different on the frontier where Jennie lived.
The land was rugged, the climate was unforgiving, it was sparsely
populated, and there was the constant fear of Indian attacks. If the
family was farming and ranching the next neighbor could be miles
away. Outside of attending church, selling homemade goods at a local
bazaar or fair, or attending a quilting bee there was little to no contact
with others. Men attended to the business in town and typically the
women stayed home.
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This is not to paint a picture that
women in the Dakota Territory
were weak because it is quite the
contrary. Women helping settle
the frontier were tough. They
still upheld their role and duties
as mothers and wives, but added
arduous work, tough weather, dirt,
bugs, and varmints. They became
industrious and could handle a
rifle when needed. Travelers to the
frontier noted
“…a spunky quality of the women.
In sharp contrast to the citified
women with their multiple layers
of petticoats, their delicate natures,
and their tendency to faint, frontier
and rural women lacked pretension,
bustled around, cooked, canned,
and generally kept the home fires
burning with good cheer and good
will…Frontier women remained
optimistic despite evidence to the
contrary. They cleaned the dust
out of their houses knowing that
the same task would be required
the next day. They endured the
wrinkled skin, the chapped hands, and the rough clothing, hoping
against hope, that things would get better, the crops would improve,
the fur skins yield more money, and the winter remain mild.” (Sochen)
Ruralness also presented challenges when it came to illness. The
remoteness of the area made it difficult to access a doctor if there was
one even available. Most women became midwives and homeopathic
doctors making home remedies to treat their family members and
neighbors. They shared these therapies amongst each other. Due to
their nurturing nature, and experiences in homeopathy it was not
uncommon for women to have an interest in the medical field.
Jennie knew if she wanted to attend medical school she would have
to earn and save money. A common profession for women at the time
was school teaching so she took the county exam and passed. Her first
assignment was the Box School, which later became Grove School, in
east Yankton. Known to run a “tight ship”, Jennie was given a raise and
transferred to Fishbeck No. 14 located in Utica, SD.
On January 12, 1888, the infamous “children’s blizzard” struck the
Dakotas. A wise Jennie knew not to release the children from school
instead keeping them safe inside the schoolhouse. Dressed in their
coats, hats, and mufflers she kept the children moving playing games,
singing, and writing letters. Jennie recalled “they wrote so many that
we used up all the paper we had.” (Karolevitz)
The next morning Joseph Rankin rescued the children and Jennie
in his sleigh. The children’s blizzard claimed the lives of at least 112
individuals mostly children who were sent home from school when