Susan Elizabeth Wood Crocker
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Susan Elizabeth Wood Crocker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 6, 1836 |
| Died | 1922 (aged 85–86) |
| Education | Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | First physician of Lawrence General Hospital |
| Spouse |
Charles F. Crocker (m. 1856) |
| Children | 1 |
Susan Elizabeth Wood Crocker (January 6, 1836 – 1922)[1] was an American physician and professor. After graduating from the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, in 1874, she began pioneer work as woman physician.[2] She was a founder of the Lawrence General Hospital, its first physician, and the medical and surgical supervisor of all its departments.[3] She also directed the establishment of the first free home for the infirm in Lawrence, Massachusetts.[4]
Susan Elizabeth Wood was born January 6, 1836, in Halifax, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Nathan Thompson and Ann Maria (Kimball) Wood, and the granddaughter of William Wood.[5] She was a descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, who emigrated from England in the Mayflower in 1620 and was the first physician and surgeon in the United States. She was also descended from Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. [6] Her siblings included Philander Wood, Christiana Wood, Newell Edgar Wood, and Erland Judson Wood.[7]
Crocker's preliminary education was obtained at Pierce Academy in Middleborough, Massachusetts. She reportedly displayed an early desire to study medicine, but although a certain physician and his wife offered to take her into their family and educate her for the profession, she determined that she would not become a doctor of medicine until she could study in a medical college.
In 1856, she married Charles F. Crocker, of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Although not supposing that she would ever be able to realize her early wishes, she yet fitted herself in literature, history, natural science, and the languages, and in 1871, she took three full courses of medical lectures at the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, and graduated on April 18, 1874.[5]
