Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner.
- August Schachner
- Date:
- [1913]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![annually saved and the countless hundreds of thousands of [157] years that are annually added to human life through abdominal operations, would be a task well nigh superhuman. Abdominal surgery has reached such proportions that ovariotomy is but one of its smaller divisions, and when we think that even this bids fair to be extended and still further improved, we begin to realize the priceless gift and the enduring obligation that humanity owes to Ephraim McDowell and Jane Todd Craw- ford. For more than a century the heroine of this story has passed from one writer to the next as Mrs. Crawford, of Green County. No one seems to have thought it necessary to establish her identity that she might take her proper place in history. After an investigation fraught with many difficulties, ex- tending over many months, involving an enormous corre- spondence and assuming at times a discouraging outlook, I feel justified from the records in my possession, in presenting the following history of her: Jane Todd Crawford, who richly deserves to share with McDowell the honor and glory of an international memorial for her heroism, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia. She was the sister of Samuel Todd, of Frankfort, Kentucky. Thomas Crawford and his wife, Jane Todd Crawford, with Thomas Mitchell, who in 1768 in Virginia had married Rachael, the sister of Thomas Crawford, moved to the waters of Caney Fork, nine miles southeast of Greensburg, arriving there November 5, 1805. It must be remembered that Kentucky was still largely a wilderness and, owing to Indians and other dangers, emigrants moved about during the early periods not singly, but in groups. This was four years before Mrs. Crawford was operated upon. There is a record to show that Thomas Crawford and his wife, Jane, transferred to John Motley, 427 acres of land for $1900, “ cash in hand,” December 8, 1810, one year after the opera- tion. The land was afterwards known as Motley’s Glen. Five children were born to them, lion. Thomas Howell, Crawford, who was mayor of the city of Louisville in 1859 and 1860, Rev. James Crawford, a Presbyterian minister, Samuel Crawford, Alice Craig Crawford, who married William Paul (U)](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440951_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
