Catherine "Kate" C. Woodhull (July 24, 1842 – March 25, 1926) was an American physician and medical missionary who ran a hospital in Fuzhou, China, from 1884 to 1912.
Kate C. Woodhull | |
|---|---|
 Kate C. Woodhull, from a 1900 newspaper | |
| Born | July 24, 1842 Wading River, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 25, 1926 (aged 83) Riverhead, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, medical missionary in China |
Early life and education edit
Woodhull was born in Wading River, New York, the daughter of Noah Hallock Woodhull and Hannah Conklin Woodhull.[1] She earned her medical degree from the New York Medical College for Women in 1873, with further studies in Zürich and Dresden.
Career edit
Woodhull taught school as a young woman. She practiced medicine in Smyrna, Delaware,[2] and was house physician at a foundling hospital in Chicago. She sailed for China as a medical missionary in 1884.[3] She trained Chinese women physicians and treated patients at a Christian mission in Foochow (Fuzhou) for 28 years.[4][5] Her younger sister Hannah C. Woodhull was also a missionary, as a teacher at Foochow.[1][6]
Woodhull founded and ran a hospital for women and children at Foochow.[7] "New paint and fresh whitewash will not heal disease," she wrote to colleagues in 1895 of her policies, "but it makes a good impression on the heathen if the hospital has a thrifty appearance."[8] Both sisters retired from mission work and returned to the United States in 1912.[9] She was succeeded as head of the hospital by Lora G. Dyer.[10] She spoke to American church and women's groups about her experiences in China,[11] and at the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions meeting in Boston in 1893.[12]
The Woodhull sisters had a furlough in the United States in 1896 and 1897.[13] They were "ardent advocates of enfranchising women" and both lived to vote in Suffolk County in 1918.[14]
Publications edit
Personal life and legacy edit
Woodhull died in 1926, at the age of 83, in Riverhead, New York.[16] The Kate C. Woodhull Hospital for Women was dedicated in 1925,[17] to mark the 40th anniversary of her arrival in China.[9]
References edit
- ^ a b "Two Chinese Missionaries; The Woodhull Sisters, Natives of Suffolk, heard from in the Flowery Kingdom". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1900-09-22. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Going to China". Smyrna Times. 1884-09-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Letter from Dr. Kate C. Woodhull". Smyrna Times. 1885-02-04. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Present Medical Work of the Woman's Board". Life and Light for Woman. 25 (5): 213–217. May 1895 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Purington, Louise C. (1903). Our medical work. Woman's Board of Missions, W.B.M.I., and W.B.M.P. Physicians, trained nurses, hospitals, dispensaries, sanitation and hygiene on the foreign field. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. [Boston]. p. 15 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Ewing, Charles (1907). What Congregationalists are doing for the uplift of China. Congregational Library. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. p. 34 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Woman and Her Ways; Unusual Experiences Met with in Foo Chow". Los Angeles Evening Express. 1901-11-23. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-04-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Woodhull, Kate C. (March 1895). "Foochow". The China Medical Missionary Journal. 9 (1): 46.
- ^ a b "Riverhead Unites to Honor Woodhull Sisters, Famed for Chinese Mission Work". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1924-07-24. p. 20. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Dr. Lora G. Dyer Remains in China". The North Adams Transcript. 1937-12-07. p. 16. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tells of Treating Chinese". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1914-03-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Done by Heathens". The Boston Globe. 1893-01-12. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Wading River". New-York Tribune. 1896-07-18. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Suffolk County Political Gossip". Times Union. 1918-09-14. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Woodhull, Kate C. (October 1901). "A Plea for Hygiene". The China Medical Missionary Journal. 15 (4): 274–276.
- ^ "Dr. K. C. Woodhull Estate Goes to Charity, Friends". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1926-06-15. p. 21. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Open Hospital in Chinese City; Well Equipped Institution in Foochow Erected in Memory of Dr. Kate C. Woodhull". The Spokesman-Review. 1925-07-12. p. 39. Retrieved 2024-04-22 – via Newspapers.com.