Nancy M. Hill

Nancy Maria Hill (November 19, 1833 – January 8, 1919) was an American Civil War nurse who later became one of the first women physicians in the United States. She specialized in obstetrics and founded what is now called Hillcrest Family Services, an organization providing support to single mothers and their children in Dubuque, Iowa.

Nancy M. Hill
Our Army Nurses, 1895
Born
Nancy Maria Hill

November 19, 1833
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 8, 1919(1919-01-08) (aged 85)
Dubuque, Iowa
EducationMount Holyoke College, University of Michigan
Medical career
ProfessionPhysician, nurse
FieldObstetrics
InstitutionsArmory Square Hospital

Biography

Hill was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1833, to William and Harriet (Swan) Hill.[1][2] She was well educated, and attended Mount Holyoke College. She served as a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War, during which time she worked at the Armory Square Hospital in Washington, D.C.[3][4]

When the war ended, Hill was inspired by her nursing experiences to study for a medical degree and was admitted to the University of Michigan's medical school in Ann Arbor.[2][5] She graduated in 1874, at the age of 41, becoming one of the first female physicians in the United States.[6] Shortly afterwards, she moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where she would practice medicine for 36 years. She specialized in obstetrics and once noted, "I was never a mother but brought about 1000 children into this world."[2]

Hill established the Women's Rescue Society of Dubuque in 1896 to provide shelter and support for unwed mothers and their babies.[6] She was involved in the organization until 1909 when she was forced to close the residential facility as a result of financial problems and her own advanced age.[7] The facility was reopened by Anna Blanche Cook in 1914 as the Hillcrest Deaconess Home and Baby Fold and is now called Hillcrest Family Services.[2] Hill died in 1919 and was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Dubuque.[8]

Seventy years after her death, Hill was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1989.[2]

References
  1. Holland, Mary Gardner (1895). Our army nurses. Interesting sketches, addresses, and photographs of nearly one hundred of the noble women who served in hospitals and on battlefields during our civil war. Boston, Mass.: B. Wilkins & Co. p. 82. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  2. "Dr. Nancy Maria Hill". Iowa Commission on the Status of Women. Archived from the original on November 10, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  3. Howe, Samuel Storrs (1921). Annals of Iowa. Iowa State University.
  4. Sudlow, Lynda L. (2000). A vast army of women: Maine's uncounted forces in the American Civil War. Thomas Publications. p. 219. ISBN 9781577470496.
  5. Moldow, Gloria (1987). Women Doctors in Gilded-age Washington: Race, Gender, and Professionalization. University of Illinois Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780252013799.
  6. Voight, Sandye (September 22, 2005). "Character reference; Costumed performers bring history forward at Linwood walk". Telegraph Herald.
  7. "History". Hillcrest Family Services. Archived from the original on June 2, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  8. Kittle, M. D. (October 1, 2006). "The Test of Time; Dubuque's 'oldest' shape the city's character". Telegraph Herald.
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