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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![[157] Brown, and a daughter who died in infancy. Dr. Samuel D. Gross has proven conclusively that Mrs. Crawford did not give birth to a child after the ovariotomy. As the daguerrotype camera was not introduced into the United States until 1839, it is not reasonable to suppose that any photograph was ever taken of her and in all likelihood no portrait of her was ever painted. All efforts to procure what would seem a trustworthy description of Mrs. Crawford, and more details germane to the operation, have so far failed. There is a tradition in the Mitchell family that McDowell made no charge for the operation, but that Mr. Crawford pre- sented him with an honorarium so large that, considered in the light of that period and the contracting parties, it is out of reason to suppose the story credible, and is mentioned simply as one of the many errors and traditions that confronted us in our search. The story of Jane Todd Crawford’s subsequent movements, her death and the discovery of her grave which had been for- gotten for about a century, is akin to a romance, but entirely too long for the present paper. Stripped of its details, a long search and an extensive correspondence brought the writer in touch with Mr. J. K. Mitchell, a lawyer of Osborne, Kansas, and a grandnephew by marriage of the heroine. Mitchell’s vigorous efforts resulted in enlisting the aid of the Eev. J. H. McArthur, a Presbyterian minister of Sullivan, Indiana, who discovered the grave in the Johnson Cemetery ten miles northwest of Sullivan. Since the family bible, in which the family records were kept, was burned during the fire that destroyed the house of Eev. James Crawford, it is practically impossible to determine her exact age. The date of her death has been given variously as 1841,1842 and 1843. The inscription on her tombstone reads: Jane Crawford Died Mar. 30,1842 Aged 78 years Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. According to this she survived the operation 33 years.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440951_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
