Mary F. Thomas facts for kids

Mary F. Thomas (1816–1888) was an important American woman. She was a pioneer doctor, meaning she was one of the first women to become a physician. She also fought for the rights of women and for the end of slavery. Mary Thomas helped many people in need throughout her life.

Born into a Quaker family, she grew up in Ohio and lived most of her life in Indiana. Thomas was a key leader in the women's suffrage movement, which worked to give women the right to vote. She helped start the Woman's Rights Association of Indiana in 1852 and later became its president. In 1859, she was the first woman to speak to the Indiana General Assembly, asking for laws to protect married women's property rights and to give women the right to vote. She also served as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association at a national level.

Early Life and Family

Mary Frame Meyers was born on October 28, 1816, in Montgomery County, Maryland. Her parents, Samuel and Mary Meyers, were both Quakers. Her father was a farmer and an abolitionist, meaning he was against slavery. He even helped start the first anti-slavery group in Washington, D.C.. Mary's father often took her to watch debates in the United States Congress.

Quakers in the 1800s were very active in social justice movements. They worked for things like temperance (reducing alcohol use), ending slavery, and getting women the right to vote. Because Mary's family believed slavery was wrong, they moved to rural Ohio in 1833. This move helped them escape the pro-slavery atmosphere in Washington, D.C. Mary and her siblings helped their parents on the farm, and their father taught them at home in the evenings.

Marriage and Support

While living in Ohio, Mary met Owen Thomas, who was also a Quaker and later became a doctor. They married in 1839 and moved to Wabash County, Indiana. There, they began studying medicine together.

Mary and Owen Thomas had three daughters. Their oldest daughter passed away young. Their other daughters, Paulina and Julia, grew up to be educated women. Owen Thomas strongly supported his wife's dream of becoming a doctor. He even made her his assistant physician. He also supported her work as a suffragist, signing the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association's constitution right after her.

Becoming a Pioneer Doctor

While in Wabash County, Indiana, Mary Thomas started attending medical lectures with her husband. At that time, it was very unusual for women to become doctors. But Mary decided to pursue a career in medicine.

In 1851, she began taking formal medical courses at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She planned her trip carefully, preparing her home and sewing clothes for her daughter, Paulina. Mary studied there in 1851 and 1852. She also took classes at Western Reserve Medical College in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1852 to 1853. She then returned to the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1854. This made her one of the first women in the country to earn a medical degree!

After finishing her medical training, Dr. Thomas returned to Indiana to practice medicine in Fort Wayne. In 1856, she and her family moved to Richmond, Indiana, where she lived for the rest of her life.

Fighting for Women's Rights

In 1845, Mary Thomas attended a Quaker meeting in Salem, Ohio. There, she heard Lucretia Mott give a speech about women's rights. This speech greatly inspired Mary to become a strong supporter of women's equality.

After hearing Mott speak, Thomas became very active in the suffrage movement. In 1852, she joined the Woman's Rights Association of Indiana. This group later changed its name to the Indiana Woman's Suffrage Association. The group's main idea was that God created everyone with "free and unchangeable rights." They believed that laws that treated women unfairly should be removed. They also thought that men should help the movement but not lead it, as it was a women's movement. Mary and her husband were among the first 32 people to sign the association's constitution in 1852.

Mary Thomas became a leader in the association. In 1855, she was elected as a vice president. The next year, in October 1856, she was elected president of the association. In 1857, she led the association's meeting. In her opening speech, Thomas said that women had made great progress and were in a much better position than a few years before. She also said, "By my example, as well as my words, I have tried to teach women to be more self-reliant." She continued to do this throughout her life.

From March 1857, Thomas also helped edit a national women's magazine called The Lily. This magazine discussed important topics like temperance, women's rights, and dress reform (changing women's clothing styles). She also wrote articles for other newspapers, including Woman's Journal.

Speaking to the Indiana State Legislature

On January 19, 1859, Mary Thomas, along with Mary Birdsall and Agnes Cook, spoke to a special meeting of the Indiana General Assembly. This was a big moment because Mary Thomas became the first woman to present a petition to the state legislature.

The Indiana Women's Rights Association's petition had over a thousand signatures. It asked for laws to give married women control over their own property and for an amendment to the Indiana Constitution to give women the right to vote. Thomas used strong arguments and asked the assembly to listen respectfully. Mary Birdsall then spoke about women's right to vote, and Agnes Cook spoke about temperance. Even with their powerful speeches, the state legislature did not take action on the petition at that time.

Reports from that day described the atmosphere differently. Some said the men in the crowd were "rough and noisy," while others said everyone listened "politely."

Helping During the Civil War

During the American Civil War, women's roles in public life grew because they were needed. Some women organized events to raise money for soldiers' families. Others managed family businesses or volunteered as nurses to care for wounded soldiers. Mary Thomas was very active in these efforts.

In March 1862, Indiana's Governor Oliver P. Morton created the Indiana Sanitary Commission. This group helped raise money and gather supplies for soldiers fighting in the war. Thomas first worked in Richmond, Indiana, for a year, collecting supplies. Then, in January 1863, Governor Morton asked women, including Thomas, to help deliver supplies to the front lines and work as nurses.

In the summer of 1863, after the Battle of Vicksburg, Thomas was among the volunteers who brought supplies to Indiana soldiers in Mississippi. She returned north on a steamboat with 200 sick and wounded soldiers, and she personally cared for 47 of them. Besides her service at Vicksburg, Thomas nursed wounded soldiers in hospitals in Washington, D.C., Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi.

In 1864, Thomas was appointed superintendent and assistant physician at a hospital in Nashville. This hospital cared for war refugees and formerly enslaved people. Her husband was the hospital's surgeon. Two of their daughters, Paulina and Julia, even worked as teachers for the refugees there. After the Civil War, Mary and her husband returned to Richmond, Indiana, and continued their work for social change.

Later Life and Legacy

Mary Thomas continued to work as a doctor and advocate for women's rights in her later years. She served as president of the Indiana Women's Suffrage Association and for one year as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association. She also spoke to the Indiana General Assembly again. On January 3, 1877, she and Zerelda Wallace spoke to the state legislature to support women's right to vote, but the measure was defeated. They spoke again in 1879, but still, no action was taken.

Thomas also served as the city physician of Richmond, Indiana, and was on its Board of Public Health. She helped found Richmond's Home for Friendless Women, a place that helped women in need. She worked as a physician at this home from 1875 until her death in 1888.

In 1875, Mary Thomas was elected to the Wayne County Medical Society. Earlier, when she practiced in Fort Wayne, she had been rejected twice from another medical society, likely because she was a woman. In 1876, Thomas became the first female member of the Indiana State Medical Society. The next year, in 1877, she was the first woman to represent the state group as a delegate to the American Medical Association. She also became the AMA's second female member. Between 1880 and 1887, some of her medical essays were published in a medical journal.

Mary Thomas passed away in Richmond, Indiana, on August 19, 1888. In her will, she asked for six women to be her pallbearers (people who carry the coffin). Four white women represented different groups she supported, like temperance and women's suffrage. Two African-American women represented all races and the fight for everyone's rights. She is buried next to her husband in Hartford, Michigan.

Mary Thomas is remembered as a brave pioneer woman doctor. She was also a strong advocate for temperance and for ending slavery. Her leadership in the women's suffrage movement was very important. She was known as a "champion of the oppressed," especially for women and children who needed help. Her work helped bring about better laws in Indiana for women and children. An obituary in 1889 described her as "always deeply interested in the care of the helpless and needy, -- a veritable Dorcas, and beloved physician indeed to the poor."

See also

In Spanish: Mary F. Thomas para niños