Mary Hobart (1851) was an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
at the turn of the 20th century. She specialized in
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and was known for her independence and resourcefulness.
Her career had parallels with that of her great-great-grandmother,
Martha Ballard
Martha Moore Ballard (February 9, 1735 – June 9, 1812) was an American midwife and healer. Unusually for the time, Ballard kept a diary with thousands of entries over nearly three decades, which has provided historians with invaluable insi ...
;
but Mary Hobart sought out the medical profession by her own ambition as an early entrant. Her service was due in part to caring for the poor in hospitals.
Hobart chose to remain single for her entire life, since she could independently support herself.
She practiced for 30 years in Boston before retiring in
Needham Heights, Massachusetts.
Early life and education
Hobart was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1851. She trained at the Women's Medical College, of the
New York Infirmary for Women and Children
NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital is a nonprofit, Acute (medicine), acute care, teaching hospital in New York City and is the only hospital in Lower Manhattan south of Greenwich Village. It is part of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthca ...
until 1884.
Martha Ballard's Diary
By the time Hobart graduated from the Women's Medical College, her cousin Lucy Lambard Fessenden gathered her great-great-grandmother, Martha Ballard's, historical diary for her great aunts to give to Mary.
Though Mary is known to be a pioneer in medicine, her great-great-grandmother, Martha Ballard, is a late 18th-century housewife whose diary is the main source for the book, ''A Midwife’s Tale''
''.'' Since Hobart was one of few to graduate from medical school in her family, it was only fitting to have a diary of medical importance passed down to her. Hobart was 33 when she received "a hopeless pile of loose unconsecutive pages".
Her great aunts, Sarah Lambard and Hannah Lambard Walcott, decided it was best for Hobart to take care of the diary. She decided to donate the diary to the Maine State Library in 1930.
In exchange of the donation, Hobart expected a transcript copy of the diary. She never received a full translation of the work, but Hobart was grateful for the parts she was given.
Adulthood
Following the Women's Medical College, she was practicing medicine at the
New England Hospital for Women and Children
The New England Hospital for Women and Children was founded by Marie Zakrzewska on July 1, 1862. The Hospitals goal was to provide patients with competent female physicians, educate women in the study of medicine and train nurses to care for the ...
from 1886 until 1913
/sup> . The hospital was founded in 1862 by Dr. Marie Zakrzewska. Here, Hobart specialized in obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
/sup> concentrating on pregnancies, childbirth, and postpartum period.
Hobart retired in Needham Heights, Massachusetts. There, she became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...
. Women were allowed to enter the Massachusetts Medical Society on June 10, 1884, the same year Hobart received Martha Ballard's historical diary.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobart, Mary
Physicians from Boston
1851 births
Year of death missing
American obstetricians
19th-century American women physicians
19th-century American physicians