Other amazing
women: Nellie Bly, Lydia Pinkham, Dr.
Marie Stopes
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A pioneering woman physician and a
mail-order business for women's diseases and
menstruation:
Dr. Grace Feder Thompson,"A bit of a hellion"
Her life from
materials belonging to Jerrie Wacholder
(the daughter of Dr. Thompson's third
husband)
Grace Feder - later, Dr. Grace
Feder Thompson - was the second of
six children, born in 1875 to a
wealthy San Francisco Jewish
family that owned a large ranch in
Fresno and manufactured shoes in
the city. The San Francisco fire
of 1906 destroyed their city home,
and it was six months before the
safe cooled enough enough to open
it. But the money inside was
ashes. The family lived in a tent
in Golden Gate Park until they
regained their footing.
As a child, Grace was
mischievous, wildly riding side
saddle the family's ponies, and
pulling pranks with her siblings,
for which they received the cold
shoulder from their beloved father
and spankings from their mother.
Dr. Thompson's only child, Jerrie,
pegged her as "a bit of a
hellion," which may have propelled
her to early success.
Grace and her sister Adeline
graduated in 1895 from an
approximately two-year course for
the M.D. at the University of
California, although Grace wasn't
old enough to receive the degree;
the school sent it to her in
Germany when she turned 21, where
she was with the older Adeline and
the younger Cora, the family
beauty, a talented violinist
studying at the Berlin
Conservatory of Music.
Both Cora and Adeline met and
married Americans in Europe,
Adeline marrying the dentist to
the Kaiser and Cora a
printing-press manufacturer
selling the Kaiser the
Mergenthaler Linotype machine.
Cora died at 24 after childbirth.
As was the custom, Mona, a sister,
then married the widower to care
for the children. Adeline and her
husband remained in Germany until
after World War I, when they
settled in California with their
three children.
In Europe for about two years,
Grace studied widely, as recounted
below in her notes written for the
University of California. She was
the first woman accepted into the
medical school of the University
of Berlin. Later, she interned at
Moorsfield Hospital in London,
which afterwards offered her a job
as head nurse - women had little
standing in medicine then. The
angry Dr. Feder returned home soon
after.
But the situation was no better
in San Francisco, where her father
believed that work was undignified
for women and wouldn't let her
practice, in spite of her training
in eye, ear, nose and throat. And
she was the only woman qualified
to write a prescription for eye
glasses in San Francisco. Later,
officials rejected her idea for an
eye clinic for university
students.
Dr. Thompson, now married to Mr.
Woods, the handsome owner of many
glove stores who formerly toured
the world managing circus acts,
did clinical work at the
University of California for 15
years before retiring. This
marriage, her third, lasted 49
years, until her husband died at
89.
But where
is the Woman's Remedy Company,
which is why she is on this
site?
Her daughter, and only child,
Jerrie Wacholder, e-mailed me in
August 2000 after someone told her
he found the material on this
site. Mrs. Wacholder was writing a
genealogy for the family. She had
had no idea that her mother had
been involved with the company or
written a book - although her
mother had often mentioned the
Woman's Remedy at home without
further defining it - and wanted
to know where I got the letter.
I have a suggestion as to what
happened.
Grace's father, Samuel, died in
1901, when she was about 26,
possibly loosening the restraint
on her entrepreneurial urges.
Sometime between then and 1912,
when the envelope on this site is
dated, she joined - started? - the
company, possibly with her husband
(Mr. Thompson, about whom Mrs.
Wacholder provided no
information), which looks as if it
could be done at home, not in a
public office, thereby still
concealing her work from the world
- or family.
But her whereabouts and family
situation would have to be
determined to settle the question.
Mrs. Wacholder, born to another
husband six or so years after the
date of the letter, when her
mother was 43, could not have
heard family talk about her
mother's ongoing enterprise. By
that time the business had
probably long since disappeared.
I sense that by her last
marriage, she had resigned herself
to what was apparently routine
work at the university, surely a
disappointment for an intelligent
and ambitious woman. Why would a
father support two daughters'
medical education and then not let
them practice? By this time she
had had a lifetime's worth of
experience, and perhaps realized
that.
Obviously
there are gaps and puzzles in
the biography on this page, as
you will see if you carefully
compare documents with
narrative. Mrs. Wacholder,
in an understatement, writes
that Dr. Thompson was "quite a dynamic
lady."
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I think I detect an
impish grin.
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Below is the text of a note,
maybe a draft, (with an
excerpt in her handwriting)
Dr. Thompson wrote to a Dr.
Davis of the University of
California, probably late in
life, recounting
briefly her life. The
"we" includes her sister,
Adeline Feder, M.D.
Jerrie
Wacholder, the daughter
of Dr. Thompson by her third
husband, and only child, sent
the text (under the handwritten
excerpt, below), which she
edited for clarity, and a copy
of part of the actual note.
It was common in
German-speaking countries, and
still is to an extent, for
students to spend semesters at
different universities
studying under good people in
their field; this
explains Dr. Thompson's travels.
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"I graduated from the University
of California in medicine in 1895
with my sister Adeline Feder. We
then went to Germany to do further
studies. At that time I was the
first woman to enter the medical
college in Berlin. We studied
under Professor Loeb in Nürnberg
in bacteriology.
"In Zürich we studied general
medicine under Professors
Eichhorst and Müller.
"In Berlin we studied brain
under Prof. Monakau and Forel in
his clinic in Bucholse. My studies
continued alone as my sister gave
up medicine to marry Dr. Henry
Phillips, dentist to the Kaiser [!
This seems to contradict some
information below, but may resolve
itself with more information].
"I was the only woman at the
University of Berlin studying eye
under Professor Schweiger.
"From there I continued my
studies at Moorfields Hospital in
London (1897) associated with
another doctor in charge of the
infant clinic. I also studied
refraction under Dr. Thompson, the
inventor of the ophthalmoscope.
"I returned home in the fall of
1898 and consulted with my cousin
Dr. Monroe Deutsch, who was at
that time provost of the
University of California. I was
greatly interested in the
possibility of opening a free
clinic to fit and dispense glasses
to students. However, interest had
not progressed to a point where
eye deficiencies were recognized
in students and my suggestion was
not accepted.
"I still maintain my license and
subscription to medical
publications.
"Sincerely, Grace Feder
(Thompson) Woods"
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Below are excerpts
from Public
Opinion (probably a
newspaper), San Francisco,
reproduced from Western States
Jewish Historical Quarterly
(no date),
courtesy of Jerrie Wacholder.
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Below: Obituary
for Dr. Thompson (in the San
Francisco Chronicle, April 10,
1966)
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SERVICES HELD FOR WOMAN
PHYSICIAN
Private family services for
Dr. Grace Feder Woods - who may
well have been San Francisco's
first woman physician - were
held at Sinai memorial chapel
here Sunday.
They were charged with love -
performed by her cherished
son-in-law, attorney and former
rabbi, David Rubenstein.
Dr. Woods, who celebrated her
90th birthday with her family
last August - gay of heart and
crystal-clear in mind, suffered
tiny strokes and gave up her
apartment three months ago to
enter a convalescent home. She
died there Saturday.
Her father, a pioneer shoe
manufacturer and partner in the
Rosenthal-Feder Shoe Co., had
his store where Shreve's now is;
her New Orleans-born mother came
west by covered wagon.
Graduated from the University
of California in 1894, Dr. Woods
refused to accept the almost
universal barrier against women
in medical colleges.
With her sister Adeline Feder
Phillips, she entered medical
school in Berlin, Germany, in
the first class to admit women,
had her residency in Moorfields
Hospital, London, and began
practice here about 1898 as an
eye, ear, nose and throat
specialist.
She was married in 1915 to
Harry Woods, glove manufacturer,
who died three years ago, but
whose H. Woods Glove Co. still
is a business here.
Dr. Woods followed the college
careers of her grandsons,
Michael and Donald, with pride,
and enjoyed visits with them and
her daughter only last week.
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END - Go to the
amazing Nellie Bly - Go to Dr. Thompson's first page and letter, exam sheet (front), (back), envelopes
Some other amazing
women: Marie
Stopes, Nellie Bly, Lydia Pinkham See Cardui patent
medicine,
Lydia Pinkham's Compound,
Dr. Pierce's
medicine and Orange
Blossum medicine.
© 1997, 2005 Harry
Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or
distribute work on this Web site in any
manner or medium without
written permission of the author. Please
report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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