a biography of the day-dr. sarah r. adamson dolley (first female dr in rochester, organizer)

[niyad]

Dr. Sarah R. Adamson Dolley


Sarah Read Adamson was born on March 11, 1829 to Charles and Mary Corson Adamson, in Schuylkill Meeting (Chester County), Pennsylvania. Her father was a farmer and a storekeeper.
Adamson was first educated at a school run by her cousin, Graceanna Lewis. She then attended the Friend’s School in Philadelphia. She decided to become a doctor, and asked her physician uncle, Hiram Corson, to accept her as his apprentice. He initially refused, believing that the practice of medicine was an unsuitable profession for ladies. However, when it became apparent that she would not give up her quest, he relented.
Adamson studied medicine at her uncle’s office until she was accepted by the Central Medical College, which was founded in Syracuse, New York in November, 1849. The College moved to Rochester shortly thereafter, and Adamson received her medical degree on February 20, 1851, just two years after Elizabeth Blackwell had become the first woman graduate of a modern American medical school.
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On June 9, 1852, upon completion of her internship, Adamson married Dr. Lester Clinton Dolley, who taught anatomy and surgery at her alma mater, Central Medical College. She returned with him to live in Rochester, New York. The two opened a practice together at Five Main Street, where they also had living quarters.
In 1872, Dolley’s husband died of spinal meningitis. In the years following his death, she accepted a temporary position as an obstetrics professor at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.* She also returned to Europe and pursued further medical studies in France, Prague and Vienna. When she came back to Rochester, she resumed her medical practice, teaming up with Dr. Anna H. Searing.

In 1886, Dolley was among the group of women physicians who established the Provident Dispensary, a Rochester clinic for women and children run by women physicians. In addition these pioneering women doctors included her partner, Dr. Searing, and Dr. Marion Craig. The women who formed this clinic also founded the Practitioners’ Society, an organization of local women physicians. The Society was organized at her home on January 13, 1887. She became its first president.
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In addition to her professional affiliations, Dolley was also known for her leadership in other organizations. In 1879, she helped to found the Rochester Society of Natural Sciences, and served as its head. She was also present when a group of business and professional women decided to form the "Ignorance Club" at an informal meeting on December 8, 1880. The Club got its name because author Jane Marsh Parker had mentioned at the meeting that she had recently seen an article which suggested that people should keep an "Ignorance Book," or a notebook where they could write down questions or topics which they would like to study in the future. Parker said that she thought this would be a good idea for a group as well as for individuals. Dolley then passed around her prescription book and asked the women present to write down a question, which they would like to explore. The women found the questions so intriguing that they decided to establish a club using the "Ignorance Book" idea as an organizing principle. The Ignorance Club, officially organized on January 17, 1881, elected Dolley as its first president. She served in this capacity for twenty years.

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http://winningthevote.org/F-SDolley.html