Dr. Mary F. Thomas, 1816-1888
Location: Main St. and SW 1st St., Richmond (Wayne County), Indiana 47374
Installed 2023 Indiana Historical Bureau, William G. Pomeroy Foundation, City of Richmond, Wayne County Convention & Tourism Bureau, and Wayne County Commissioners
ID#: 89.2023.1
Text
Side One
Abolitionist, suffragist, and temperance advocate Dr. Mary F. Thomas graduated from medical school in 1854 and practiced medicine in Richmond by 1856. She led Indiana’s early suffrage efforts, addressed the state legislature on women’s rights in 1859, served as Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association president, and co-edited suffrage newspapers The Lily and The Mayflower.
Side Two
During the Civil War, Dr. Thomas applied her medical experience in the field while championing both abolition and suffrage. She served as Richmond’s City Physician, assisted the Home for the Friendless, and advocated prison and hospital reform. Elected president of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1880, Dr. Thomas worked for women’s rights until her death.
Annotated Text
Side 1
Abolitionist, suffragist, and temperance advocate Dr. Mary F. Thomas graduated from medical school in 1854 and practiced medicine in Richmond by 1856.[1] She led Indiana’s early suffrage efforts, addressed the state legislature on women’s rights in 1859, served as Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association president, and co-edited suffrage newspapers The Lily and The Mayflower.[2]
Side 2
During the Civil War, Dr. Thomas applied her medical experience in the field while championing both abolition and suffrage.[3] She served as Richmond’s City Physician, assisted the Home for the Friendless, and advocated prison and hospital reform.[4] Elected president of the American Woman Suffrage Association in 1880, Dr. Thomas worked for women’s rights until her death.[5]
[1] Mary F. Thomas, “The Elevation of Women,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, July 27, 1850, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Mary F. Thomas, “Letter from Indiana,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, October 25, 1851, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Henry C. Wright, “Letter from H.C. Wright,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, November 1, 1851, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Mary F. Thomas Letter to Miss Susan B. Anthony, May 11, 1863, Reprinted in The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, 1861-1876., eds. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage (Rochester, NY: Charles Mann Printing Co., 1881), Accessed via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28039; Florence M. Adkinson, “The ‘Mother of Women,’” The Woman’s Journal, Saturday, September 29, 1888, Vol. XIX, No. 39, Accessed via Archive.org; “Mary F. Thomas,” History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 1, 1848-1861, 2nd edition, eds. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage (Rochester, NY: Charles Mann Printing Co., 1887), pg. 314, Accessed via Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28020/pg28020-images.html; “Preamble and Constitution of the Woman’s Rights Association of Indiana,” Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association Record Book, 1851-1886, Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/womenshistory/id/96; “Mass Convention,” Richmond Palladium, May 17, 1870, Accessed via Hoosier State Chronicles; “Minutes of the 10th Annual Meeting of the I.W.S.A.” June 8 and 9, 1870, submitted by applicant; “Notes,” The Inter Ocean (Chicago), Nov. 22, 1882, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Temperance Meeting,” Richmond Weekly Palladium, Jan. 13, 1859, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Grand Lodge of Good Templars,” Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, Oct. 18, 1861, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Untitled, Richmond Palladium, Nov. 17, 1868, Accessed via Hoosier State Chronicles; “W.C.T.U.,” Muncie Morning News, April 10, 1884, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “In Memoriam,” Richmond Item, Sept. 1, 1888, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Untitled,” Knox County Democrat (Niobrara, Nebraska), Sept. 27, 1888, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Pauline T. Heald, “Mary F. Thomas, M.D., Richmond, Ind.,” submitted by applicant; Joseph S. Longshore, M.D., “Announcement and catalogue of the Penn Medical University of Philadelphia, male and female departments, for 1857-58: with the valedictory address to the graduating classes, delivered at the public commencement, held in Musical Fund Hall, May 30th, 1857,” (Philadelphia: M.P. Williams & Co, 1857), http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101196356; “O. Thomas, M.D., Mary F. Thomas, M.D.” advertisement, Richmond Palladium, August 7, 1856; Medical Practice Advertisement, Richmond Palladium, September 24, 1856, Accessed via Newspaper Archives; Medical Practice Advertisement, Richmond Palladium, October 2, 1856, Accessed via Newspaper Archives; Lecture Notice, Fort Wayne Weekly Times, December 25, 1856, Accessed via Newspaper Archives. All newspaper articles cited in the footnotes were accessed via Newspapers.com unless otherwise noted.
Mary F. Myers was born to parents Samuel Myers and Mary Frame Myers on October 28, 1816 in Montgomery County Maryland. Her birthday was incorrectly recorded in a Quaker meeting book as being November 28, but as her mother died on November 1, 1816, just days after giving birth, the November 28th date is impossible. Later newspaper accounts and her obituary list her birthdate as October 28. Mary F. joined a sister, Sarah Harlan Myers, who was two years older than Mary.
Dr. Mary F. Thomas graduated from Penn Medical University in Philadelphia in 1854. Her thesis was on the subject of “Ovarian Dropsy.” Dr. Thomas began practicing medicine by April 1854 in a shared office with her husband in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but they relocated to Richmond, Indiana by July 1856, where they again set up a shared medical practice.
[2] Mary F. Thomas, “The Elevation of Women,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, July 27, 1850, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association Record Book, 1851-1886, Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/womenshistory/id/96; “Woman’s Rights,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, Nov. 8, 1851, Accessed via Newspapers.com; Mary F. Thomas Letter to Miss A.W. Spencer printed in The Pioneer and Woman’s Advocate, July 31, 1852, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Women in Kansas,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, Aug. 22, 1857, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Presentation of the Woman’s Rights Petition, Jan. 19,” The Lily, submitted by applicant; Journal of the Indiana State Senate, During the Fortieth Session of the General Assembly, (Indianapolis: John C. Walker State Printer, 1859), 185-190; Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Indiana, During the Fortieth Regular Session of the General Assembly, (Indianapolis: John C. Walker State Printer, 1859), 157-158; Indianapolis Journal, January 20, 1859, submitted by applicant; “Petition Read by Dr. Mary F. Thomas before a joint session of the Indiana Legislature on Jan. 6, 1859, https://mrlinfo.org/history/biography/petition.htm; “Address of Mrs. Mary F. Thomas,” Daily State Sentinel, January 21, 1859, submitted by applicant; “Legislative Proceedings,” Evansville Daily Journal, January 19, 1859, Accessed via Hoosier State Chronicles; The Topeka Daily Capital, May 19, 1879; “Equal Rights,” The Inter Ocean, May 24, 1879; The Lily (undated advertisement and address, circa 1856), Indiana Historical Society; The Lily (March 1859), submitted by applicant; “The Mayflower,” Randolph Journal (Winchester, IN), November 29, 1860, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Prospectus of the Mayflower,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, Dec. 8, 1860, Accessed via Newspapers.com; The Mayflower, Vol. 1, No. 5, (March 1, 1861), Accessed via Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America; The Mayflower, Vol. 1, No. 24, (December 15, 1861), Accessed via Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America; The Mayflower, Vol. 4, No. 2, (February 1864), Accessed via Harvard University, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America; Heald article; Atkinson article; History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 1.
[3] “Minutes of the Richmond Benevolent Society,” Richmond Palladium, Vol. 32, No. 3, January 11, 1862, Accessed via Hoosier State Chronicles; “Indiana State Sanitary Boat,” Daily Evansville Journal, August 18, 1863, Accessed via NewspaperArchive.com; “Indiana Items,” Indianapolis Daily Journal, August 19, 1863, Accessed via NewspaperArchive.com; “List of Contributions,” Richmond Weekly Palladium, November 13, 1863; “From Cambridge,” True Republican (Centerville, Indiana), December 1, 1864, Accessed via NewspaperArchive.com; “From Cambridge,” True Republican (Centerville, Indiana), December 8, 1864, Accessed via NewspaperArchive.com; Thomas letter to Anthony, 1863; Adkinson, “The ‘Mother of Women’”; “Dr. Mary F. Thomas,” excerpt from the Richmond Palladium reprinted in The Woman’s Journal, Saturday September 1, 1888; Heald article; “Dr. Mary F. Thomas,” Richmond Item, August 20, 1888, Accessed via Newspapers.com;
[4] “Fifth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Home for the Friendless,” Richmond Weekly Palladium, January 25, 1873, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Home for the Friendless,” Richmond Weekly Palladium, January 31, 1874, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Home for the Friendless,” January 12, 1876, Indiana State Library, https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll72/id/742; Heald article; Adkinson article; “Dr. Mary F. Thomas,” Richmond Item, August 20, 1888; Indiana Medical History Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3, Indiana Historical Society, (Sept. 1979), https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p16797coll49/id/367; Transactions of the Indiana State Medical Association, Issue 40 (1889), pg. 210; G.W.H. Kemper, M.D., An Index and Alphabetical List of Contributors to the Transactions of the Indiana State Medical Society from its beginning in 1849 to 1907, (Muncie, IN: 1915), 15, 35; Lucy Jane King, M.D. (Fall 2013). "Pioneering Women Doctors," The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections, Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. 53 (2): 6.
[5] “Woman Suffragists,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), Dec. 17, 1880, Accessed via Newspapers.com; “Capital Notes,” Boston Globe, Dec. 17, 1880; Hagerstown Exponent (Hagerstown, IN), Dec. 22, 1880; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Dec. 17, 1880; “From Kentucky,” Lewiston Evening Journal (Lewiston, ME), Oct. 26, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” Boston Post, Oct. 27, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), Oct. 9, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” Mitchel Commercial (Mitchel, IN), May 18, 1882; “Notes,” Inter Ocean (Chicago), Nov. 22, 1882; “The Difference,” Lincoln Beacon (Lincoln, KS), April 12, 1883; Hagerstown Exponent, April 18, 1883; Chicago Tribune, Nov. 16, 1884; “Woman’s Rights,” Grand Island Daily Independent, Nov. 22, 1884; Indianapolis Sentinel, May 24, 1885; “Matrons’ Department, The Kansas Patron, Nov. 26, 1885; “Woman Suffrage Convention,” Lincoln Beacon (Lincoln, KS), Sept. 9, 1886; “The Suffragists,” Richmond Item, Nov. 10, 1886; “Woman’s Work,” Topeka Daily Capital, Oct. 29, 1886; “The Kansas Legislature Congratulated,” Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Nov. 2, 1887; “Woman Suffrage,” Daily Commonwealth (Topeka, KS), Nov. 2, 1887; Florence M. Adkinson, Indianapolis Journal, May 13, 1888; Heald article; Adkinson article; L.S., “Dr. Mary F. Thomas,” Woman’s Journal, Sept. 1, 1888; Indiana Woman’s Suffrage Association Record Book, 1851-1886, Indiana Historical Society, https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/womenshistory/id/96.
Keywords
Women; Science, Medicine & Invention