Kate C. Woodhull Explained

Kate C. Woodhull
Birth Date:July 24, 1842
Birth Place:Wading River, New York, U.S.
Death Date:March 25, 1926 (aged 83)
Death Place:Riverhead, New York, U.S.
Occupation:Physician, medical missionary in China

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.

Early life and education

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

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.[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

Personal life and legacy

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.

Notes and References

  1. News: 1900-09-22 . Two Chinese Missionaries; The Woodhull Sisters, Natives of Suffolk, heard from in the Flowery Kingdom . 2024-04-21 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . Newspapers.com. 15.
  2. News: 1884-09-03 . Going to China . 2024-04-22 . Smyrna Times . 2 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: 1885-02-04 . Letter from Dr. Kate C. Woodhull . 2024-04-22 . Smyrna Times . 1 . Newspapers.com.
  4. May 1895 . The Present Medical Work of the Woman's Board . Life and Light for Woman . 25 . 5 . 213-217 . Internet Archive.
  5. Book: Purington, Louise C. . 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 . 1903 . [Boston] . Princeton Theological Seminary Library . 15 . Internet Archive.
  6. Book: Ewing, Charles . What Congregationalists are doing for the uplift of China . 1907 . American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions . Congregational Library . 34 . Internet Archive.
  7. News: 1901-11-23 . Woman and Her Ways; Unusual Experiences Met with in Foo Chow . 2024-04-21 . Los Angeles Evening Express . Newspapers.com . 6.
  8. Woodhull . Kate C. . March 1895 . Foochow . The China Medical Missionary Journal . 9 . 1 . 46.
  9. News: 1924-07-24 . Riverhead Unites to Honor Woodhull Sisters, Famed for Chinese Mission Work . 2024-04-22 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 20 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1937-12-07 . Dr. Lora G. Dyer Remains in China . 2024-04-22 . The North Adams Transcript . 16 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1914-03-18 . Tells of Treating Chinese . 2024-04-22 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 10 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1893-01-12 . Done by Heathens . 2024-04-22 . The Boston Globe . 5 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: 1896-07-18 . Wading River . 2024-04-22 . New-York Tribune . 15 . Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1918-09-14 . Suffolk County Political Gossip . 2024-04-22 . Times Union . 7 . Newspapers.com.
  15. Woodhull . Kate C. . October 1901 . A Plea for Hygiene . The China Medical Missionary Journal . 15 . 4 . 274-276.
  16. News: 1926-06-15 . Dr. K. C. Woodhull Estate Goes to Charity, Friends . 2024-04-22 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 21 . Newspapers.com.
  17. News: 1925-07-12 . Open Hospital in Chinese City; Well Equipped Institution in Foochow Erected in Memory of Dr. Kate C. Woodhull . 2024-04-22 . The Spokesman-Review . 39 . Newspapers.com.

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