“No Small Part”: Utah Women in Medicine, Nursing, & Midwifery, 1873 – 1930

Physician Gallery

These photographs highlight some of the female physicians during this time period. They took different paths to medicine, and followed a variety of pursuits after obtaining their degrees. See this Relief Society Magazine article for more on several of these physicians.

Margaret Curtis Shipp Roberts (1849-1926) went to Philadelphia in 1875 to pursue a medical degree, but returned home after one month because she was so homesick. She returned several years later to complete her degree in 1883. Back in Utah, she practiced medicine and taught classes in obstetrics and nursing for many years. After divorcing her first husband, she married B. H. Roberts as a plural wife in the early 1890s; Margaret also raised nine children.

Caroline Mills grew up in Provo and studied medicine at Iowa State University, graduating in 1895. For part of her career, she practiced medicine in Randolph, Utah. She was the first doctor in the area and treated patients in several nearby towns.

Martha Hughes Cannon (1857-1932) recently came to the attention of many Utahns when the state legislature approved the placement of her sculpture in the National Statuary Hall in Washington DC. In addition to her political accomplishments (one of which is that she was the first woman state senator in the United States), she earned her degree in medicine from the University of Michigan in 1880 and pursued further postgraduate work in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She practiced medicine in Utah and California.

Ellen Brooke Ferguson (1844-1920) was among those female physicians who immigrated to Utah having already completed some form of medical education, though historians dispute if she ever received a medical degree. She immigrated to Utah in 1876, after practicing medicine in Indiana and Illinois. In addition to continuing her medical practice, she taught medical classes for women and was the first resident physician for the Relief Society’s Deseret Hospital. Ellen was active politically, defending polygamy and advocating for suffrage. After leaving the Church in the late 1890s, Ellen moved to New York and little is known about her life until her death in 1920.

Elvira Stevens Barney (1832-1909) was baptized a member of the Church at age 12 and crossed the plains with the Brigham Young pioneer company in 1848. In Utah, she worked in education and a variety of professions, served a mission, and married and divorced three times. She pursued medical education in middle age, returning with her degree in 1883 at age 51. Though she did not have an active medical practice, she taught classes for women on obstetrics, anatomy, and physiology through the Relief Society.

This image was created to accompany a book titled Representative Women of Deseret, published in 1884 by Augusta Joyce Cocheron.  The author wrote biographical sketches of women Church leaders and other notable women with the purpose of showing those unfamiliar with the Church “what manner of people these “Mormons” are.” Physicians Romania Penrose and Elvira S. Barney and midwife Zina D. H. Young were profiled in the book.