Dr. Mary Canaga Rowland: The Life of a Frontier Woman Doctor

1873 - 1966

Mary Canaga Rowland was born in 1873 in Red Willow, Nebraska. At that time, "Nebraska was a pioneer state with western counties in "The Great American Desert", a vast grassy plain covered with grama and buffalo grass. Here and there were muddy streams. The grasses were rich in food value and nourished buffalo and later cattle. It was a treeless country, with trees only along streams." (1) It was a land of wild, natural beauty and also a land that could suddenly receive the fury of a violent storm, bringing wind, rain, hail and sometimes much destruction. When Mary was born there was still a danger of Indian raids, so families sometimes lived in fear and kept a watchful eye out for approaching bands of Indians.

Many settlers lived off of their land. Their lives were deeply effected by weather and the elements. Some years the crops were good and everyone managed to get by. Other years there wasn't enough rain for the crops. "The dry winds blew, the wind was full of dust and people were hungry." (2) Growing up on the prairie in newly homesteaded areas, people needed each other to trade labor and help with those things they couldn't do alone. Life was a continuous struggle, many times controlled by the elements of weather and environment.

"As there was little money, the neighbors exchanged work with one another. And if someone was ill, a neighbor was always there to help care for the sick or do the required chores. Mother took care of women in confinement." (3) As Mary grew up she watched her mother deliver babies and "care for the new mother and baby, and in addition did the housework and cooked for the rest of the family for up to two weeks, all for five dollars a week. Mother had two books on midwifery that she kept hidden from the family. (4) But Mary would look at them when she was alone.

There were five children in Mary's family.Mary was in the middle.May was the oldest, then Ben, then Mary, Ida and Nellie was the youngest.Mary and her sister Ida were playmates.Ida was the sister closest to Mary's age, being about two years younger. Mary seemed to be a very confident and bold child. Her father had a soft spot in his heart for her.He instilled confidence in her by telling her she was just as smart and capable of any boy and she that she had the ability to do whatever she attempted.She wasn't afraid of much and "I enjoyed getting up before people and showing off", said Mary.( 5) "Entertainment on the Nebraska prairie included weekly meetings or ice cream socials at church and "Literary Society" gatherings, public interest debates, or Spelling bees at the schoolhouse.At home our books included a Christian Bible, and my father's Geography and Astronomy texts.My neighbor Kate Longnecker and I spent many nights studying the Astronomy book and finding constellations in the heavens." (6)

The first story Mary said she read was from the Red Willow County newspaper that "came into their home wrapped around something." (7) After reading that, Mary was crazy about reading and read everything she could get her hands on."I borrowed books and magazines from all of the neighbors."(8)

Her constant reading irritated her mother who wanted her to work.But Mary had stubbornly made up her mind she was going to "get more learning than our country school offered." (9)She took it upon herself to go to the town of Indianola, where she found room and board that she could work for, and a school she could attend that would give her more education than her country school.She decided to study English grammar and read books such as Oliver Twist, Robinson Crusoe and Leather-stocking Tales."I learned grammar well enough to teach at a little country school in Goodland, Kansas." (10)Mary lived in Goodland with her grandmother for the three month term.After Christmas she went back to Indianola, Nebraska, where she had a new teacher; J. Walter Rowland.

"J. Walter Rowland was of small bones, dark hair, and dark blue eyes, with wit and a ready answer that go with Irish." (11)Mr. Rowland's wife had passed away and left him with four children.The youngest, an infant at the time, stayed with his mother and the other three children lived with him.They went to the same school in Indianola, Nebraska, as Mary.

Mary lived by herself to begin with.Soon she took in a roommate.This young lady named May, boarded with Mary and became a very dear friend.

Walter, Mary's teacher began to take notice of Mary and came regularly to her apartment to read with her. Walter was almost fifteen years older than Mary", (12)Mary said, "As time passed I grew to love him, not withstanding the difference in our ages.No other man ever moved my emotions like Walter." (13)

Walter had also studied Law, and Telegraphy.He had passed the Nebraska Bar, but decided not to practice law.He decided that he wanted to try medicine so he left teaching and went to Medical school.

Mary left for Iowa to help with a cousin's wedding and went to the teachers Institute.While she was there she obtained a certificate to teach in the county.

In the meantime Walter graduated in Medicine from Kansas City Medical College.Because he didn't have the money to buy office equipment, he took a teaching job at Cedar Bluff, Kansas.While there, he heard a doctor was needed in the little town of Herndon, Kansas.He relocated there as soon as he could and began to practiceMedicine.

After he had been practicing a year Mary decided it was time to get married."We had been interested in each other for five years.We corresponded regularly when we were apart. I wrote him that I was ready to marry and if he was not interested there was a man nearer to home I could love very easily." (14) "Right away he wrote that he had purchased a little house in Herndon and for me to fix a time.On May 23, 1897, I married my beloved man in my mother's home and went to live in Herndon, Kansas.When he came to the wedding he gave me a deed to the house he had just purchased, and reminded me that it was better than a diamond ring." (15)

Before their marriage, Walter had experienced losing a mother and child in childbirth.It was a circumstance beyond his control, yet it affected him deeply.One night the doctor was called out to deliver a baby whose mother had been in labor 2 days.He told Mary he would not go if they (the parents) could not send for him right away.Now Mary was very practical, and knew Walter could not run a practice this way.He couldn't practice in the country and pick and choose his patients.Being of strong character, Mary told him, "Yes, you will go, I'll go with you.After that I always went with him for moral support." (16)

This looked to be the beginning of Mary's future in Medicine.She began to read her husband's medical books.After a year of marriage the Doctor, (her husband), asked Mary if she would like to study medicine.He wanted the two of them to practice together.

Mary's studies began at a "small Medical school in Topeka, Kansas, which later consolidated with Kansas City Medical." (17)Mary transferred sometime after her second year to the Women's Medical College of Kansas City, Missouri and graduated in 1901."Mary's application to practice in Kansas indicated that she took three terms of study altogether over three years; from September 13, 1898 to March 20, 1901". (18)Mary would later attend Creighton University School of Medicine (John A Creighton Medicine College) in Omaha, Nebraska, after the Doctor died and she decided she wanted to move from Herndon.Mary graduated from Creighton in 1905.

After graduation from Medical school and returning home, Walter left Mary in charge of the practice and went to Chicago to take a "refresher course" in Medicine. (19)Mary seemed to be very confident, practical and levelheaded.While Walter was away Mary handled both a broken arm and broken leg."The next case was a broken leg.A family sent a nine-year old Bohemian boy out at four in the morning on a June day to herd cattle.About ten in the morning he grew sleepy and the cattle were doing all right, so he lay down to sleep in the deep rut of the road, shaded by grass.It was time to cut the wheat and some men drove along with a team hitched to a header box, but because the rut was deep and the grass long they didn't see him lying there.The little fellow woke up as the horses were passing over him.He tried to get out, but a wheel caught him across the thigh and broke the bone; it also cut his head.The men called for me and I put him on a flat bed on his back.Then I ran adhesive tape down both sides of the broken leg and under the foot.I ran a bandage through the tape beneath his foot and to this I attached a flat iron for traction.This method was called Buck's Extention.When the femur breaks, the muscles pull the broken ends apart and they do not heal.With continuous pull however, the muscles give way after awhile and the leg straightens out.There is a modification of Buck's Extention used in hospitals today, a great improvement over older methods.I left the boy to lie that way for several days until Doctor came home to help with the case.Doctor worried that it was not all right.Me, I didn't have a doubt in the world because I had followed the instructions given in our book on minor surgery.I didn't think it could go wrong.When the leg healed, it turned out to be just as long as the other.Within a short time no one knew it had ever been broken." (20)

Mary had been taking care of Walter's children and now longed for a child of their own.Mary seemed to desperately want the entire experience of pregnancy, childbirth and having a child to raise.Like many women, she was very nauseated at the beginning of her pregnancy, but didn't seem to pamper herself much.She continued with her life as usual, until the final days of gestation.Furthermore, she felt the "Doctor" (her husband) was making quite a fuss over her.Mary seemed to look at the whole process of childbirth very clinically, yet she was overwhelmed by the love that she felt with this child's birth.After four years of marriage she became pregnant."I Look back through the years at the long quiet time of my gestation, and I remember hoping it would be a girl.When a woman enters into the delivery of her unborn child, she enters a realm where no one really goes with her.In a way it is like death.We die alone always. The mother gives birth to her child alone." (21)On April 25th, 1902, Mary had her baby girl; Nellie.

It is always amazing how quickly life can change.Three days after delivering her baby, Walter was killed.There had been some kind of misunderstanding between Walter and one of his friends; George W. Dull.Walter was concerned because George had become very cold to him. Mary advised Walter to speak to George and get to the root of the matter.She felt they should be able to talk and clear things up.Walter had been shot in George Dull's Flour room, at his business.Dull didn't admit to the shooting, but also didn't have much to say about it.He was arrested but let out on bail to await his trial.

"Dull was convicted of second degree murder in Rawlins District Court and appealed to the Supreme Court of Kansas.The Supreme Court upheld the conviction.Dull was later pardoned by a governor of Kansas." (22 )

Mary went back to practicing medicine when her baby was only a month old.She was still nursing the baby and ran from one place to the next to keep up with her life."I kept a girl to do the housework and Doctor's mother came and stayed with me for two years to help take care of the baby.I am forever grateful to that gentle creature who was such a comfort to me.Her husband, a Civil War Veteran, would come over from their home and stay a day or two at a time." (23)

Mary delivered many babies.At this time in history, in a country setting, most deliveries were done in homes, and conditions were very primitive.Sanitary conditions were often a problem.Cesarean section wasn't an option. Chloroform or Ether was used to keep the patient as comfortable as possible."Chloroform is far more dangerous than modern anesthetics...either is explosive in the presence of a blaze, we used chloroform at night."(24)

Mary's practice encountered Small Pox, Typhoid Fever, Meningitis,Measles, Scurvy and many other diseases which are very rarely seen today. Mary describes the next few years, after Walter's death, as difficult.It wasn't easy having a small child and running a Medical Practice.Mary took care to find a special person to take care of Nellie and their home.

"Doctors have changed their methods and their medicines greatly since 1900.Formerly, the family doctor was a devoted slave to his work. He went when called, day or night, rain or shine, and never thought to ask if patients could pay their bills.Always faithful to his work, the patient's problems were his problems.He knew all the ailments and quirks of each of his flock. He took his medicine bags on calls and after examining the patient sat down, mixed medicines, put them into powders and gave directions." (25)

"Doctors used to take whatever their patients had to offer in compensation, but it often happened that in a doctor's declining years it was difficult to make ends meet.It was many years before doctors began to be more diligent about collections, as well as to do good by their patients." (26)

"In speaking of doctors I use the masculine gender.There were at the time when I studied medicine few women doctors." (27)

"The argument against women studying medicine was much like the argument against women being allowed to vote.They said medicine was indecent for women to know, and that the polls were not a fit place for them to be.The change in the public's attitude toward women represents one of the greatest changes that has ever taken place." (28)

Mary decided to leave Herndon.She wanted to practice in a larger town and Herndon had lost it's luster after the Doctors death. She moved to Omaha, Nebraska to attend Creighton Medical college, graduated, and moved on to Topeka, Kansas.Mary's friend, May, had come to live with her and help her with Nellie while Mary was in school.Her stepfather, Captain Barrett, was a contractor and built her a fine house. The home was near Washburn college on Mulvane Street and stands there today.Her home was and still is in a pleasant neighborhood, "but too far from the center of town for a large practice." (29) Mary felt the house was too large, and rented a room to a young male medical student.

After Mary and Nellie moved to Topeka, each summer Mary would leave Nellie with friends and travel to Rawlins County to practice medicine there. Mary took in a boy named Arthur who was about fourteen years old.She had been told he needed help but he later turned out to be quite a "wheeler-dealer".He got himself into trouble several times over the years."Mary's daughter Nellie, maintained that Arthur was, in fact, the son of Mary's stepfather Captain Barrett." (30)

During these four years in Topeka, Ks., Mary married August Kleint. This didn't work out and they divorced in 1909. Mary wanted to be closer to her sister, May and May's family.In 1909 Mary, Nellie and Arthur moved to Idaho.

Mary did not stay in Idaho.She did not pass the Idaho Medical State Boards and the cold weather and stress from her second marriage, (that was almost over) caused her to move on.She went to Oregon, passed the Boards there, and settled down to again practice medicine.In 1910 she began her practice in Lebanon, Oregon.Mary built a respected practice and became a partner in the Kerr & Rowland Drugstore.

In 1913 Mary went to New York to Graduate Medical school.She left Nellie with a Christian Minister's family, while she was away.

Mary decided that when Nellie was ready for college she would move again.She was confident about making a living almost anywhere. She sold her practice and moved to Salem, Oregon, where she would eventually retire.

Mary practiced full time in Salem until 1927, when she retired from her position as the physician for Chemawa Federal Indian School. Her career gradually wound down until 1939 when she took on the "primary role of raising Carolyn, her granddaughter." (31)

Mary's granddaughter, Carolyn, (the daughter of Nellie and M.T. Madsen Jr.) was born on September 25, 1937.Nellie had gotten an education and was running a small retail business in Salem when Mary took over the role of raising Carolyn."Nellie lived nearby and saw Carolyn regularly." ( 32)

Mary proved to be a very practical person throughout her life.She did whatever she needed to do to survive by using her creativity and ingenuity. If she needed a roommate to make ends meet, she succeeded in pursuing one.She appeared to be very careful with her money and wise about investing it.I don't recall ever noticing in her memoirs that she particularly worried about money.She must have done a good job of handling what she had.

Mary was very serious about her medical career and proved that by continually adding to her education throughout the years.

Mary treated people that needed her medical help, despite their ability to pay.Mary also seemed to act from the heart, displayed by the kindness she treated everyone with. Towards the end of her life she befriended a gentle old man, "Uncle Henry", who appeared on and off throughout the later years of her life, sometimes working as her handyman.She also gave a ride (in her car) to a little old Indian woman on the road one day, and from then on they became friends until the old woman's death.

Mary's love for her canary, "Chicky Boy" was also memorable, as an example of her love for all living things.Mary was a wonderful, kind, caring and loving individual, yet practical and forthright.She is very worthy of being remembered.

Mary spent her last few years writing her memoirs. She passed away in 1966 at ninety-three years of age.