Nancy Elizabeth Talbot Clark Binney (May 22, 1825July 28, 1901) was the second woman to earn a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in the United States from a recognized (non-sectarian or allopathic) medical institution after

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Ki ...

, graduating in 1852, and the first woman to earn a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University Medical School, then known as the Cleveland Medical College of the Western Reserve College.

Biography

Nancy was born on May 22, 1825, in

Sharon, Massachusetts Sharon is a New England town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,575 at the 2020 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about southwest of downtown Boston, and is connected to both Boston and Providence by ...

to Joasiah Talbot and Mary Richards Talbot as the seventh child of five boys and five girls. In 1845, she married dentist Champion Clark, then bore a daughter who died within a year. Her husband succumbed to

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

fever dying in March 1848. She found her way to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

where under the leadership of Dean Delamater, she became the first female graduate of the Cleveland Medical College in 1852. Clark returned to

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, where she practiced medicine 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 ...

from April 1852 to August 1854 but stopped after she was unsuccessful in gaining admission to 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 ...

due to being a woman. In 1856, she married Amos Binney of Boston and had six children. After raising the family, she returned to medicine in 1874 opening a free dispensary for women in Boston. Nancy died in 1901 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

References

External links

Nancy Talbot Clark and her sisters at Western Reserve in the 1850s: pioneers of medical education of American women
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Nancy Talbot Binney 1825 births 1901 deaths American feminists Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Case Western Reserve University alumni Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine alumni History of women's rights in the United States People from Sharon, Massachusetts 19th-century American women physicians 19th-century American physicians