Latest / Nebraska History Podcast / The Legacy of Susan LaFlesche Picotte

Transcript

The Legacy of Susan LaFlesche Picotte · Nebraska History Podcast

0:00
The following episode features a historic article from the
0:02
Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
0:04
language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
0:06
valuable insight into the past, may contain expressions or
0:08
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
0:10
Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
0:12
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
0:17
Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
0:20
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles
0:23
written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
0:27
Susan Lafleche Picot graduated from medical school during a
0:30
time when very few women did so. In fact, she was the first
0:34
Native American woman to reach such an achievement.
0:37
This episode explores her history through the 1982
0:40
Nebraska History Magazine article Susan Lafleche Picot,
0:43
Nebraska's Indian Physician, written by Valerie Shearer
0:47
Mathis Plenty of air and sunshine.
0:51
That is nature's medicine, but I have hard work to make my people
0:55
understand those remarks from Susan Lafleche, the first Indian
0:59
woman physician. Susan's people, the Sioux and
1:02
speaking Omaha, had their origins in the Ohio and Wabash
1:05
River area, but had subsequently migrated westward to eastern
1:09
Nebraska. Following the passage of the
1:12
Indian Removal Act in 1830, they began ceding their claims to
1:16
eastern lands. By 1854 they gave up their
1:19
rights to hunting grounds West of the Missouri River and
1:22
retained only a small tract bordering the river.
1:26
In return for ceded lands, they received annuities, a gristmill,
1:30
a blacksmith shop, and protection from hostile tribes.
1:34
The treaty also gave the Board of Foreign Missions of the
1:37
Presbyterian Church four quarter sections of land to continue
1:40
missionary work among the tribe. The Presbyterians had
1:44
established their first permanent mission at Bellevue,
1:47
NE in 1845, but when the Omaha secession required the Indians
1:52
to move to their new reservation, the missionaries
1:55
followed. In 1858 they built a new mission
1:58
house as well as a boarding and day school where Omaha children,
2:02
including those of Joseph Lafleche, were educated.
2:06
The son of a French fur trader and his Indian wife, Joseph in
2:09
1853 was the last recognized chief of the tribe.
2:14
Aware that the Indians would eventually have to learn the
2:17
ways of the whites, in the 1850s he hired white carpenters to
2:20
construct A2 story frame house near the site of the new
2:23
mission. By abandoning the Omaha
2:26
Traditional Earthen Lodge, Joseph became a bit of an
2:29
example for his people to follow.
2:32
He laid out a town site, fenced 100 acres, and divided the land
2:36
into smaller fields in order that each man in his village
2:39
could farm. Joseph took another step in
2:42
adopting white ways when he refused to have his daughters
2:45
tattooed and his son's ears pierced, he explained.
2:48
Quote I was always sure that my sons and daughters would live to
2:53
see a time when they would have to mingle with the white people,
2:57
and I determined that they should not have any mark put
2:59
upon them that might be detrimental in their future
3:03
surroundings. End Quote.
3:04
Joseph was remarkably astute, for several of his seven
3:08
children not only mingled with whites, but played important
3:11
roles in bridging the gap between the two cultures.
3:14
One son, Francis, became a well known ethnologist with the
3:17
Bureau of American Ethnology. Suzette, the eldest daughter,
3:21
became a prominent Indian rights leader, and Susan, the youngest
3:25
daughter, became the first Indian woman to graduate from a
3:28
Medical College and practice modern medicine.
3:31
In 1865, the year of Susan's birth, her father signed the
3:35
last Omaha Treaty, seating the northern part of their
3:38
reservation as a home for the Winnebago.
3:41
The Omaha's shrinking land base made the adoption of the ways of
3:45
the Whites even more urgent. Joseph, aware of the importance
3:49
of education, sent his children to the schools in the East.
3:53
Susan's education began at the Omaha Agency and the
3:56
Presbyterian Mission School. In September of 1879, she and
4:01
her sister Marguerite entered the Elizabeth Institute for
4:04
Young Ladies in Elizabeth, NJ. In 1882, after three years in
4:09
New Jersey, the sisters returned to the reservation.
4:12
Susan spent the next two years working at the Mission School
4:15
and for the six month period taught a class of small
4:18
children. In 1884, Marguerite and Susan
4:21
entered Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in
4:24
Hampton, VA. The education of Indians at
4:28
Hampton began in 1879 when Richard Henry Pratt, a young
4:32
Army officer, arrived with 22 Indian students from Fort
4:35
Marion, Florida. Well known for its education of
4:39
black Friedman, Hampton had been established by General Samuel
4:42
Armstrong in 1868. Armstrong welcomed the Indian
4:47
students warmly, thus beginning a long and successful experiment
4:50
in Indian education at Hampton. For the next two years, Susan
4:54
and Marguerite, dressed in uniforms, drilled on the parade
4:57
ground and were imbued with the educational philosophy of
5:01
Armstrong. He believed that labor was,
5:03
quote, a spiritual force, that physical work not only increased
5:07
wage earning capacity, but promoted fidelity, accuracy,
5:11
honesty, persistence, and intelligence.
5:14
Newly arrived students who could read and write English, like
5:17
Susan and Marguerite, were automatically placed in the
5:20
normal course of study and proceeded at their own pace
5:22
academically while tutoring part of the day.
5:25
Those who had less formal education.
5:27
Beginning at 5:00 AM, students put in a 12 hour day.
5:32
There was, however, a more pleasant social site of school
5:35
life in which both Susan and Marguerite joined eagerly
5:39
graduating from Hampton on May 20th, 1886 as Salutorian.
5:44
Susan's address was entitled Quote My Childhood and
5:47
Womanhood. End Quote.
5:49
General Byron M Cushion, Civil War Medal of Honor winner, also
5:54
presented her with the Demorest Prize, a gold medal awarded by
5:58
the faculty for the graduating senior who had achieved the
6:02
highest examination score in the junior year.
6:05
Alice Cunningham Fletcher, an ethnologist who had journeyed
6:07
from Washington, DC to join the more than 1000 people in the
6:11
audience, stated quote. Susan looked well, spoke
6:14
clearly, and everyone was delighted with her.
6:17
End Quote. Susan's education to this point
6:20
was a little out of the ordinary, but her decision to
6:22
attend Medical College was unique.
6:25
The fact that she eventually became a medical practitioner
6:28
was not unusual, for in some Western tribes there were
6:32
medicine women and female shamans.
6:34
All Native medical practitioners gain their skills through
6:37
visions and trances brought on by fasting as well as by special
6:41
training. While Indians could acquire
6:44
healing skills at any point of their lives, women could not
6:47
engage in healing until after menopause.
6:50
What set Susan apart was her desire to graduate from a
6:54
Medical College, an accomplishment that few women
6:56
could hope to achieve, especially Indian women.
7:00
Later, too, she would practice medicine.
7:02
Many years before the onset of menopause on the Omaha
7:05
Reservation at Hampton, Susan had been encouraged to
7:09
concentrate on academic subjects rather than vocational skills.
7:13
Both General Armstrong and Doctor Martha W Waldron, the
7:17
school's physician, believed Susan capable of attending
7:20
Medical College. But first it was necessary to
7:23
raise funds for tuition and expenses.
7:26
Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Sarah Thompson Kinney, wife of
7:29
the editor of the Hartford Courant, would solve that
7:32
problem. Alice Fletcher was familiar with
7:34
the Lafleche family, having worked closely with Francis as
7:37
her major informant on Omaha culture and having been tended
7:41
by young Susan during an attack of inflammatory rheumatism in
7:45
1883 while serving as missionary, teacher and
7:48
government official for the tribe.
7:50
Miss Fletcher had also been a frequent visitor to reform
7:53
gatherings at Lake Monarch in New York.
7:56
There she met Sarah Kinney, who, after some persuasion, agreed to
8:00
approach the Commissioner of Indian Affairs about the
8:02
possibility of Susan's continued education.
8:06
The Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, located in
8:09
Philadelphia, ultimately admitted Susan as a beneficiary
8:12
student. Established initially as the
8:15
Female College of Pennsylvania Quote.
8:17
To instruct respectable and intelligent females in the
8:21
various branches of medical science and quote.
8:23
It opened its doors on October 12th, 1850.
8:27
By the time of Susan's attendance, it was known as the
8:29
Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania.
8:33
On March 20th, 1886, Doctor Waldron, a graduate of the
8:36
College, wrote to Alfred Jones, the secretary of its Executive
8:40
committee, in behalf of Susan. Jones replied that it was
8:44
impossible at that time to give her a free scholarship.
8:49
He added that applications had to be handwritten by prospective
8:52
students, quote stating age, accompanied by testimonials as
8:56
to health, character and educational qualifications, and
8:59
quote. Once her entrance into college
9:02
was assured, money for tuition and living expenses as well as
9:05
travel was needed. Kenny bought her initial train
9:08
ticket and asked the family to send her to Philadelphia by
9:11
October 1st. Most of her expense for her
9:14
education was paid for by the Connecticut Indian Association,
9:18
of which Misses Kinney was president.
9:20
Founded in 1881 as an auxiliary of the Women's National Indian
9:24
Association, the aims of the Connecticut group included
9:27
quote, aid Indians in civilization, industrial
9:30
training, self support, education, citizenship, and
9:33
Christianization. End Quote.
9:36
Susan's academic support was appropriate to their program.
9:39
In a meeting on May 21st, 1886, at the suggestion of President
9:44
Kinney, the Connecticut Association agreed to undertake
9:47
the entire expense of Susan's education for the next three
9:51
years. General Armstrong had written an
9:53
enthusiastic letter about her abilities, for he regarded her
9:57
as, quote, the finest, strongest Indian character at this school.
10:01
End Quote. He described her as a level
10:04
headed, earnest, capable Christian woman, quite equal to
10:07
medical studies. Well aware that the government
10:10
paid $167 a year for Indian students at Hampton or Carlisle
10:15
Indian School in Pennsylvania, Kinney wrote to John DC Atkins,
10:19
commissioner of Indian Affairs, in hope of getting a similar
10:22
grant for Susan's educational expenses.
10:25
If the government would provide the $167 per year, she said, the
10:30
Connecticut Indian Association would be responsible for the
10:33
remainder of her expenses. General Samuel Armstrong, when
10:37
writing the Commissioner, respectfully suggesting that the
10:40
money be applied towards Susan's education, remarked that he had,
10:44
quote, no hesitation in Speaking of her as a young woman of
10:48
unusual ability, integrity, fixedness of purpose, and well
10:53
worthy in every respect of such aid.
10:55
End Quote. Following the Commissioner's
10:58
agreement to this proposal, Missus Kinney sent out an appeal
11:01
to the women of Connecticut for donations.
11:04
By helping Susan, she noted, the Omaha tribe would also be
11:08
elevated. Quote.
11:10
In her sweet, quiet way, we feel she would minister not only to
11:14
the physical needs of those who she cared, but also their deeper
11:18
wants would strive to lead them to the great healer.
11:21
End Quote. On learning of her good fortune,
11:24
young Susan wrote to Missus Kinney from Hampton in June that
11:28
it made her happy to have so many mothers caring for her.
11:32
Quote It has always been a desire of mine to study medicine
11:36
ever since I was a small girl, for even then I saw the needs of
11:40
my people for a good physician. End Quote.
11:43
She intended to teach the women of her tribe a few practical
11:46
points about cleanliness, cooking, nursing, and
11:49
housekeeping. In closing, Susan noted that she
11:53
and Marguerite hope to spend most of the summer working among
11:55
the sick at the church. Suffering from motion sickness,
12:00
a weary Susan alighted from the train in Pennsylvania in early
12:04
October. She was met by Misses Seth
12:07
Talcott, chairman of the Business Committee of the
12:10
Association, and Doctor Elizabeth Bundy, an instructor
12:13
of anatomy at the college. Susan was placed in suitable
12:17
housing at the YWCA, with which she was extremely pleased and
12:21
was provided with necessary supplies and clothing for the
12:24
next three years. She sent home lively and
12:27
interesting letters to her sister Rosalie about the people
12:31
she met, her courses and the sights that she saw.
12:35
Susan and other students registered in the office of
12:38
Rachel Bodley, Dean of the College and a professor of
12:41
chemistry. She shook hands with all the
12:44
potential young doctors, but greeted Susan with a kiss,
12:47
saying quote. We are very glad to welcome you
12:50
Miss Laflesche and are proud of your lineage.
12:53
End Quote. The Dean again welcomed Susan
12:56
formerly before the entire student body and several days
12:59
later gave a reception for the class of 1889.
13:03
The crowd was so great that Susan could not even get to the
13:06
ice cream that was being served. In her first year, Susan
13:10
attended lectures in chemistry, anatomy, Physiology, Histology,
13:15
materia, medica, general therapeutics, and obstetrics.
13:19
Students were expected to take notes.
13:21
Apparently, Susan had difficulty with chemistry, for she borrowed
13:25
a chemistry notebook almost every morning after lecture from
13:28
a second year student, Sarah Lockerly.
13:31
Although attendance was not mandatory, Susan and the others
13:35
rarely missed class, especially on examination day, for they had
13:39
to pass 90% of their tests. In addition to attending
13:44
lectures, the students went to a weekly clinic at the Women's
13:47
Hospital. Susan humorously described an
13:50
incident in which female students had been joined by male
13:53
students of the Jefferson Medical College.
13:56
Just as the surgeon prepared to operate, a young man fainted and
13:59
had to be removed from the room. It wasn't quote, I wasn't even
14:05
thinking of fainting. End Quote, wrote Susan.
14:07
Nor, for that matter, were any of the girls.
14:10
Susan and her fellow students must have truly enjoyed that
14:14
day, for they had often been teased about being faint
14:17
hearted. Apparently, Susan never minded
14:20
dissecting cadavers and jokingly informed Rosalie she was, quote,
14:23
going to wield the knife tonight.
14:25
Not the scalping knife though. End Quote.
14:28
During a typical dissection session, six students were
14:31
assigned to 1 cadaver and in detail she described the
14:34
procedure to Rosalie. Quote, it is interesting to get
14:38
all of the arteries and their branches.
14:41
Everything has a name, she wrote from the tiny holes in the bone.
14:45
It is splendid. End Quote.
14:48
Examinations were dreadful at first, but as time passed, Susan
14:53
found them easier. During the March 1887 exams, she
14:57
wrote to Rosalie to pray for her to pass but then added quote.
15:00
I don't dread them very much though.
15:02
End Quote. Seven days later, she had passed
15:05
her chemistry examination and described her anatomy exam as
15:09
lovely. Quote I had made a certain point
15:12
to study certain bones, and we were asked to describe those
15:15
very bones and one or two others.
15:18
So I got on swimmingly. End Quote.
15:21
In the spring of 1888, Susan passed her chemistry, anatomy
15:25
and Physiology exams several times in her dreams before
15:28
actually taking them. Armed with pens, pencils, and
15:32
knives, Susan and the other students descended upon the
15:35
lecture room. She described the tests as
15:37
delightful, except for the suspense of waiting to be
15:40
notified of their outcome. At 10:00 PM the students
15:44
congregated in the halls to receive letters notifying them
15:47
if they had passed. As second year students.
15:49
Susan and her group had to wait for the graduating seniors to be
15:53
informed first. As she opened her own letter, a
15:56
sense of calmness swept over her.
15:59
When she saw that she had passed, she wrote to Miss Kinney
16:03
that she was so glad that she could scarcely realize it.
16:07
She was glad for her parents, for the Indians, for the ladies
16:10
of the Connecticut Indian Association, whom she called her
16:14
Hartford mothers or foster mothers, and naturally for
16:17
herself. Now she and the other second
16:20
year students could look forward with anticipation to the same
16:23
time next year when they would graduate.
16:26
She frequently wrote home, prescribing medicine and giving
16:29
medical advice to her family. When her mother developed a sore
16:33
on her hand, Susan sent a packet with carbulated Vaseline and
16:38
Castile soap. When Rosalie's husband, Ed
16:41
became I'll, Susan wrote, quote, Tell him Doctor Sue orders less
16:45
quinine and more time for his meals.
16:48
I'm going to write him a letter someday in vacation.
16:51
A sisterly, doctorly letter. End Quote.
16:55
During one of Rosalie's many pregnancies, Susan advised her
16:58
not to work too hard or to lift heavy objects.
17:02
She should get plenty of exercise in the fresh air, as
17:04
well as enough sleep. And she must stop worrying over
17:08
her work and spend more time reading and telling the
17:10
children's stories. This was sound advice by any
17:14
standards. Unlike most Indian women of the
17:17
19th century, Susan was afforded the opportunity to learn about
17:21
mainstream cultural activities. She frequented the Philadelphia
17:25
Academy of Art, commented on the paintings of Benjamin West, and
17:29
became fond of musical performances.
17:31
She attended literary and theatrical events, including The
17:35
Mikado and a performance of Lily Langtry in Wife's Peril.
17:39
Accompanied by her brother Francis, she witnessed the
17:42
Philadelphia Mummers Parade, commenting that the masqueraders
17:46
dressed as Indians looked pretty well for Indians.
17:49
She especially enjoyed getting out of the city and walking
17:52
through Fairmount Park collecting pine cones.
17:55
But she did not ignore her Indian friends and visited
17:57
Margarita at Hampton at every opportunity.
18:00
She also visited the Indian boys at the Educational Home in West
18:04
Philadelphia as well as the Indian children at
18:07
Philadelphia's Lincoln Institute.
18:09
She attended missionary meetings, went to church, and
18:12
joined her friends in various social activities.
18:15
Well respected by her fellow students, Susan was chosen
18:18
corresponding Secretary of the Young Women's Christian
18:21
Association out of a feeling of indebtedness for their support.
18:25
She spoke before several branches of the Connecticut
18:28
Indian Association. In October of 1887, she visited
18:32
the Hartford group meeting for the first time.
18:35
Many of the women, whom she lovingly called her mother's
18:39
Susan, participated in sports at the college, taking a gymnastics
18:43
class and learning to skate and play 10 pins.
18:47
She wrote that to keep practice, she would probably swing an axe
18:50
or harness the horses the next time she came home.
18:53
She would not, she emphatically noted, go anywhere near the
18:56
cows. Quote for I am afraid of those
18:59
critters and quote. She spent a good deal of time
19:01
with the WWE Heritage family of Philadelphia.
19:05
Misses Heritage took special interest in Susan, inviting her
19:08
to their home, often for tea or even dinner.
19:11
Susan also accompanied them on many social events.
19:14
The daughter, Marion, who taught at Girard College, invited Susan
19:18
to various activities. One day the two went to a drill
19:22
at the college. Susan was not only impressed
19:25
with the drill, which was supposed to be almost as good as
19:28
those at West Point, but also with the architecture at the
19:31
college. The largest building resembled
19:34
the Parthenon in Athens and was said to be the only American
19:38
building which was purely Grecian.
19:41
Holidays far from her family must have been a lonely time for
19:44
Susan. Fortunately, her first Christmas
19:47
was spent at Hampton with former school chums and Marguerite.
19:50
Summer vacations were probably more difficult.
19:54
During her first summer she accepted a teaching position at
19:56
Hampton. The following summer, she
19:58
returned to Hampton to attend commencement ceremonies.
20:02
Warmly welcomed by teachers and students, she served as role
20:05
model for young Indian students who eagerly looked forward to
20:08
her visits. Following the commencement
20:11
exercises, Susan took the train home.
20:13
She was welcomed at the Bancroft station on June 1st by her
20:17
family. Because her parents were both
20:20
ailing that summer, she had to do much of the household and
20:23
field work, harness horses, rack hay, measure land for fence,
20:28
cook Stew, and of course, some occasional nursing.
20:31
When she arrived home, the Omaha were in the last stage of a
20:35
serious measles epidemic. Almost every family lost a loved
20:39
one that summer, and Susan did what she could to comfort and
20:42
medicate the sick, helping Doctor and Missus Hensel in
20:46
their rounds. Susan showed the Indians how to
20:48
take medicine prescribed by the doctor and handed out delicacies
20:52
that her friends in Easton, PA, had sent for the sick.
20:56
Since the Omaha lived so far apart, Susan could rarely visit
21:00
more than 10 families in an afternoon while traveling as
21:03
much as 25 miles. Seeing them in their home
21:06
environment, she became vividly aware that her people had much
21:10
to learn about cleanliness. The Omaha had suffered another
21:13
measles epidemic in 1900, and Susan, then a full-fledged
21:17
physician, vaccinated many of the children.
21:21
The financing for Susan's first year had been arranged by Misses
21:24
Kinney and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
21:27
Her second year's expenses were temporarily placed in jeopardy
21:30
when Misses Kinney, writing to the Office of Indian Affairs in
21:34
hope of renewing the $167 contract, irritated Acting
21:38
Commissioner AB Upshaw. She had reported that both the
21:42
association and the faculty at the college were satisfied with
21:45
Susan's progress in the first year.
21:47
Quote. In competing with her white
21:49
classmates who had had a lifelong benefit of routine
21:52
public school training, she has, of course, labored under great
21:56
disadvantages. But she has been brave,
21:59
studious, conscientious through it all and has more than held
22:03
her own. End Quote.
22:05
Commissioner Upshaw, taking offense at the criticism of
22:07
Susan's earlier educational opportunities, informed Misses
22:11
Kinney that Susan had, quote, received good literary education
22:15
at the expense of the government and had had two years of medical
22:18
education at the same expense. And, quote, fortunately, though,
22:22
the contract was renewed, but the government share was reduced
22:26
to $125 per year. Susan graduated on March 14th,
22:32
1889 at the head of the class of 36 young women.
22:36
In his commencement address, Doctor James B Walker praised
22:40
Susan highly, stating quote, thoughtful of a service to her
22:44
people, child though she was. She permits not the magnitude of
22:49
her task to stay the inspiration, but bravely,
22:53
thoughtfully, diligently pursues the course and today receives
22:58
her fitting reward. All this without a precedent.
23:01
She will stand among her people as the first woman physician.
23:05
Surely may we record with joy such courage, constancy and
23:10
ability. End Quote.
23:11
Following a competitive exam, Susan was selected one of six
23:15
women to intern at the Women's Hospital for four months
23:18
beginning in May. She took a brief vacation before
23:21
her internship, spending several days with her Connecticut
23:24
mothers. She was kept busy speaking
23:26
before branches in Farmington, Guilford, New Britain, Norwich,
23:31
Waterbury, and Winstead before she made a quick trip home.
23:35
Susan returned to the reservation permanently in late
23:38
1889. She accepted an appointment as
23:42
physician at the Government Boarding School on August 5th,
23:45
but in December, Omaha Agent Robert Ashley requested that she
23:49
be allowed to treat the adults of the tribe as well.
23:52
Commissioner Thomas Morgan complied with the request,
23:55
although there was already another physician at the
23:58
reservation within three months of her coming.
24:00
Susan cared for most of his Indian patients because she
24:03
spoke their language. When the other doctor left, she
24:07
was in charge of the healthcare of all of the 1244 tribal
24:12
members. The government built an office
24:15
for her at the school. A spacious building, it
24:18
contained a drug counter, cabinets full of games and
24:20
scrapbooks and picture books, as well as magazines.
24:23
Some branches of the Women's National Indian Association
24:27
donated books and other reading material to her library.
24:30
Before long, her office was full not only of school children, but
24:34
of adults who came to ask for her advice on business matters,
24:38
personal affairs, and questions of law.
24:40
Especially on cold, rainy days, the older Omaha could be found
24:44
spending a pleasant hour either visiting with Susan or looking
24:47
through the magazines. Susan's living quarters were
24:51
provided at the government school where Marguerite was the
24:54
principal teacher. Although most of their work was
24:56
centered at the school, Susan and Marguerite also carried on
25:00
their father's work directing the tribe along the path to
25:03
assimilation. They advised the tribe
25:06
encouraging couples to marry by license, and with the sanction
25:09
of the church, Christian services were soon being held
25:12
over the dead. Thus, Susan was serving not only
25:15
as physician, but also as nurse, teacher, social worker, general
25:19
advisor, and interpreter for church services.
25:23
Religion had always been an important part of Susan's life,
25:26
and partly for that reason the Women's National Indian
25:29
Association appointed her medical missionary to the tribe.
25:33
She attended church services on Sunday mornings where she and
25:36
Marguerite often assisted by singing and interpreting.
25:40
Sometimes they spoke before the church groups on various topics.
25:44
Christian Endeavor meetings were held for the young people on
25:47
Sunday evenings, prayer meetings were held on Wednesdays, and
25:50
Sunday school was held for the children in the schoolhouse
25:53
before church. But it is the medical record of
25:56
this young Omaha woman that is legendary.
26:00
Her patients, scattered over the 30 by 45 mile reservation, were
26:05
reached by a network of poor dirt roads.
26:08
During her first year, she was unable to make as many house
26:11
calls as she wished because she did not have a team.
26:15
If a patient was only a mile or so away, she would walk.
26:20
If the distance was greater, she hired A-Team, but patients often
26:24
came to her. She finally purchased a team in
26:27
buggy. In a talk at Hampton in 1892,
26:30
Susan told her audience that the roads were so bad that a single
26:34
horse could not pull a wagon. Quote.
26:36
After trying for some time to go about on horseback, I broke so
26:40
many bottles and thermostats that I had to give up and quote.
26:44
During the first winter there were two epidemics of influenza.
26:48
Although there were no fatalities among the adults, 2
26:51
babies did die. With the arrival of summer, her
26:54
patient load lessened. During July 1891, she saw only
26:58
37 patients. In August, that number rose to
27:01
111, and by September it soared to 130.
27:06
She started out every morning before 8:00, drove 6 miles in
27:10
One Direction, returned to the office by noon, and then set out
27:13
again on more rounds, returning sometimes as late as 10:00 PM
27:16
with an exhausted team. Although she never spoke of her
27:20
own weariness, her reports began to reflect more and more days
27:23
taken off because of illness. She treated both acute and
27:27
chronic cases ranging from influenza, dysentery and cholera
27:31
to an epidemic of conjunctivitis and eye ailment spread because
27:35
of unsanitary conditions. After she had instructed her
27:38
patients to use separate towels and basins, the epidemic
27:42
subsided and at the end of her second year she summed up her
27:46
experiences by saying, quote, I am enjoying my work exceedingly
27:50
and feel more interest in and more attached to my people than
27:54
ever before. I have not a single thing to
27:56
complain of for my life. Here is a very happy one.
28:00
End Quote. In December 1891 brought an
28:04
especially bad epidemic of influenza, La Gripe, as she
28:08
called it. Susan saw a total of 114
28:11
patients that month during the epidemic.
28:14
She wrote that the disease quote rage with more violence than
28:18
during the two preceding years. Some families were rendered
28:21
helpless by it, sometimes all the family but one or two being
28:25
down with it almost every day during the month I was out
28:28
making visits several days. The thermometer was 15 to 20°
28:32
below 0 and I had to drive myself.
28:35
End Quote. Her first patient in December
28:39
was an old man with Marguerite driving.
28:41
They arrived at a neat little house to find him lying on the
28:45
floor in the corner on a blanket, breathing heavily, with
28:48
no one to care for him. Susan returned two hours later
28:52
with food. In a few weeks he was out of
28:55
danger and gratefully sent the young physician, another
28:58
patient, to a Hampton audience. She once related another, more
29:01
serious case. Quite late one night she got
29:04
word that a young Hampton student was seriously ill.
29:08
Starting out early the next morning in 20° below 0 weather,
29:12
Susan drove the six miles to the house.
29:15
The whole family lived in one room and the sick girl had been
29:19
given a corner where she lay in a bed surrounded by her Hampton
29:22
mementos. Quote.
29:24
The girl and everything in her quarter of the room were clean
29:27
and as neat as could be. End Quote, wrote Susan,
29:31
reflecting her rigid training at Hampton.
29:34
Believing the girl could not possibly live through the day
29:37
because of her previous history of tuberculosis, now aggravated
29:40
by the flu, Susan left some medicine and promised to return
29:45
hurriedly. She drove the 9 or 10 miles
29:47
across the reservation to see her other patients and returned
29:50
home by 5:00 PM. Accompanied by Marguerite and
29:53
another teacher, she set out in a sled loaded with food for the
29:57
tubercular girl's home. For the next two weeks, while
30:00
the young woman weakened and died, Susan saw her at least
30:03
once every day, often cooking meals for the family and
30:06
sometimes staying a night if she felt it necessary.
30:10
January 1892 brought no relief as Susan cared for 120 cases in
30:16
three weeks. The last week of the month, she
30:19
took off to care for members of her immediate family.
30:23
When ladies from the Morristown, NJ, auxiliary of the Women's
30:26
National Indian Association sent Susan money for the sick, she
30:30
added it to funds of her own to buy food for her patients.
30:34
From October 1891 to the spring of 1892, Susan saw more than 600
30:40
patients. The hard rides were becoming
30:42
increasingly exhausting but she never refused to make a call
30:46
unless she was bedridden herself.
30:49
With the arrival of summer in 1892, Susan took a well deserved
30:54
month of rest and attended Hamptons 24th Anniversary.
30:58
She gave the commencement address entitled My Work as a
31:01
Physician among My People. While in the East she had the
31:05
opportunity to meet more members of the Women's National Indian
31:08
Association as their medical missionary.
31:11
She now had to make annual reports.
31:14
In May, she spoke before the Washington, DC auxiliary on the
31:18
spread of intemperance among her people.
31:21
One of her early reports had stressed the drinking problem,
31:24
noting that the Omaha could obtain whiskey almost as easily
31:27
as water. Laws were needed to prevent
31:29
crimes attributed to alcoholism, she believed.
31:32
Quote, if a drunken Indian smashes a buggy and assaults a
31:35
woman and child by beating them and nothing is done, what can
31:38
prevent him from doing it again? End Quote.
31:41
The temperance movement was beginning to occupy much of her
31:44
thought. During the fall of 1892.
31:48
Susan continued her arduous rounds of house calls, attending
31:51
to children and numerous walk in patients.
31:54
But her own health began to suffer.
31:57
She had complained of numbness and breathing difficulties in
31:59
college, but thought that was just psychological.
32:03
Possibly it was an early indication of the disease that
32:06
would later take her life. By the 1st of January 1893, she
32:11
was bedridden. Quote.
32:12
Susie has been sick for several weeks.
32:15
Her ears have been troubling her very much.
32:17
She says she has pain in her hand and the back of her neck
32:21
constantly. End Quote that written by
32:24
Rosalie to Francis on October 20th, 1893.
32:28
She resigned as government physician because of her health
32:31
and that of her mother, who had recently become Critically I'll.
32:35
In the summer of 1894, Susan surprised her family by
32:39
announcing her forthcoming marriage to Henry Piccott, a
32:42
Sioux Indian from the Yankton Agency and brother of
32:46
Marguerite's late husband, Charles.
32:49
Charles had died in 1892, and probably sometime shortly
32:53
thereafter. Thomas Ikinakapi, Susan's first
32:55
love, died of tuberculosis. Only Marguerite and Rosalie knew
33:00
of TI, as Susan called him, for she had placed her education and
33:05
career before marriage. After she graduated and began to
33:08
practice, she met Henry quote, a handsome man with polite,
33:12
ingratiating manners and a happy sense of humor, and quote, Susan
33:16
fell in love with him. When she expressed her desire to
33:19
marry, her friends and the heritages were upset.
33:24
Learning of the intended betrothal on June 30th, Miss
33:27
Heritage wrote expressing regret for she did not think it wise
33:31
owing to Susan's poor health. Marian also wrote Rosalie of her
33:35
concern over the matter. Quote, It is because I wish for
33:38
Susie only the best things in this world, with the least
33:42
suffering and trouble, and that I wish she had decided not to
33:45
take this step. End Quote.
33:48
Personal letters written by Susan about her romance with
33:51
Henry have not survived, but there are numerous letters in
33:55
which she revealed her feelings for TI.
33:58
They had met at Hampton, and although he was deeply
34:02
interested in Susan, she had decided that her career must
34:05
come first. She visited Hampton several
34:08
times while a student at the Women's Medical College and
34:11
spent much time as possible with TI.
34:14
She was afraid that he might return to Hampton already
34:17
married, but, wrote Rosalie, that would not break her heart,
34:20
for she was not made that way. She added, However, quote, he
34:24
was, without exception, the handsomest Indian I ever saw in
34:28
quote. In her 1886 Christmas visit to
34:31
Hampton found TI constantly by her side, as handsome as ever.
34:36
They attended a band concert and brought in the New Year
34:39
together. At one point during her visit,
34:42
TI was so overcome with emotion on seeing her that he, quote,
34:45
had his handkerchief up to his face and his eyes were shining.
34:49
I felt so sorry for him. I felt like crying.
34:51
And quote, When her carriage departed Hampton, he stood with
34:55
a handkerchief over his eyes again.
34:57
He looks so forlorn that Marguerite broke down and
35:01
another friend wrote that he, quote, acted as if he had lost
35:04
his right hand and quote in his letters.
35:07
TI told Susan he thought of her constantly.
35:10
Her good friend, Hampton teacher Cora M Folsom, was convinced
35:14
that there was no one good enough for Susan and encouraged
35:17
her to have only a platonic friendship with TI, for she
35:21
feared he was getting into deep water over her.
35:24
Quote. He is so respectful to me and I
35:27
like him for that and for his faithfulness and quote, wrote
35:30
Susan in reply. In January of 1887, Susan and a
35:34
friend had gone to the educational home in West
35:36
Philadelphia to visit the Indian boys.
35:39
While there, a young Dakota Sioux had paid a great deal of
35:42
attention to her. But Susan wrote that she did not
35:45
care to go with anyone and remembered someone at Hampton
35:48
had wondered what he would think to see such attention lavished
35:52
upon her when she attended morning service and Sunday
35:56
school. In the afternoon the young Sioux
35:57
sat next to her, holding out his hymnal.
36:00
She remarked to Rosalie, Quote, That is the end of it, I hope.
36:04
I haven't had any time or patience for such things
36:08
nowadays. Doctors don't have much time,
36:11
you know, and he will have to keep his place and quote.
36:14
Several days later she wrote, quote, I shall be the dear
36:18
little old maid, you know, and come and see you and doctor and
36:22
dose you all and quote. In the very next sentence,
36:25
nevertheless, she spoke of TI. Quote Sometimes it seems to me I
36:30
can see him looking at me with such a look, sometimes a smile
36:34
on his face as he says, Come on, Susie.
36:37
End Quote. But afraid her older sister
36:40
might become concerned, Susan assured her that TI had helped
36:44
her and had been a good influence, and that she only
36:47
hoped her influence over him would be as half as good.
36:51
Quote. I want to be his friend and help
36:55
him. I am a better girl for having
36:57
gone with him. End Quote.
36:59
She ended by assuring Rosalie that nothing will come of it
37:03
dear, so be easy and be at rest. One wonders if her life would
37:08
have been the same had TI lived and they had married.
37:11
But that was not to be. Susan, when almost 30,
37:15
apparently decided she was tired of being an old maid.
37:19
Following her marriage to Henry, she began to participate more
37:22
directly in Indian life. She and Marguerite, who had
37:26
remarried, drew even closer, both having their first babies
37:29
within a few months of each other.
37:31
Within a year, Susan was seriously ill again.
37:35
Rosalie wrote to Francis, quote, Susie had been very sick and I
37:40
had given up all hopes of her when she commenced to improve.
37:44
End Quote. With her health on the mend,
37:46
Susan and her husband lived part of the time in the town of
37:50
Bancroft, across from the Presbyterian Church.
37:53
Susan, now with two small sons, practice medicine among both
37:56
Indians and whites. She quickly won the respect of
38:00
local doctors. One night, at the urgent request
38:03
of two doctors, she helped in a particularly difficult delivery.
38:07
Later, one of them reported that mother and child were doing
38:10
well, thanks to the skill of Doctor Susan.
38:13
In her Bancroft house and at her mother's farm, Susan placed a
38:17
lighted Lantern in the window to guide those who needed medical
38:20
attention. Again in 1897, her health
38:24
failed, and that summer she became so sick that she was not
38:28
expected to live. Neighbors, both white and
38:31
Indian, rallied to her side, bringing fruit, food and flowers
38:35
and constantly expressing their concern to her mother.
38:38
That summer, when friends and neighbors came to her support,
38:41
Susan realized how much that she had helped them previously.
38:46
She felt that there was little use in trying to help people
38:49
because it was not appreciated. But she recognized her error,
38:54
for she received quote such earnest, heartfelt words of
38:57
thanks from people she never expected to hear from.
39:01
End Quote. Despite her poor health, she
39:04
became an active temperance speaker in place of her father.
39:08
In 1856, Joseph Lafleche had organized a police force of
39:12
Omaha Indians who administered corporal punishment to any
39:14
member of the tribe found drunk. Until his death in 1888, there
39:19
was very little liquor on the reservation, but since that time
39:22
liquor flowed freely, Church attendance suffered, and farm
39:26
work was often neglected. As a young student at the
39:29
Medical College, Susan had attended lectures by noted
39:33
temperance leaders, including Francis O Willard.
39:36
She was therefore exposed to the temperance movement and the
39:40
effects of alcoholism early in her medical career.
39:43
Later, as a physician, she saw the effects of alcohol from both
39:46
medical and personal angles. Tragically, her husband had
39:51
begun to drink excessively and consequently she became even
39:55
more active in the movement. During the four years she tended
39:59
the ill of the Omaha tribe, Susan always felt perfectly safe
40:03
in making her appointments, but the increased use of alcohol had
40:06
begun to change that situation, she wrote.
40:09
Quote. Men and women died from
40:12
alcoholism and little children were seen reeling on the streets
40:15
of the town. Drunken brawls in which men were
40:18
killed occurred and no person's life was considered safe.
40:22
End Quote. Women pawned their clothing and
40:25
men spent rent money on liquor instead of provisions and
40:29
machinery. Congress passed a law that
40:32
improved the situation and a commissioner or deputy was
40:35
assigned to enforce it, but his removal encouraged bootleggers
40:39
to return. A death caused by alcoholism on
40:42
January 26th, 1900 prompted Susan to write to William A
40:46
Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, asking what advantage
40:50
any money saved from the removal of the deputy would be if her
40:53
quote, people were to be demoralized mentally, morally,
40:56
and physically. End Quote.
40:58
As the years passed, the liquor situation worsened and a year
41:02
before her death, she wrote Commissioner Cato sells that his
41:05
department ought to prevent the liquor traffic.
41:09
Several weeks earlier, an old Indian had been murdered by a
41:12
young man who later committed suicide.
41:14
Quote. All through lemon extract.
41:16
End Quote. She charged, quote, the white
41:19
man who sold it being well known nothing has been done about it.
41:23
End Quote. When called as an expert witness
41:26
in the inquest of the man who had died as a result of the
41:29
misuse of liquor, she was asked about the history of liquor
41:32
traffic among her people. She bluntly stated, Quote.
41:36
We find the Omaha Indian, before the advent of the white man, a
41:39
fine specimen of manhood, physically and morally of good
41:42
health. But with liquor we find these
41:45
conditions radically changed and reversed.
41:48
We find physical degeneration of the Indian.
41:51
End Quote. Alcohol reduced their resistance
41:54
to disease, making them easy prey to tuberculosis.
41:59
Susan added that the Indian child was there for quote a
42:01
weak, puny specimen of humanity. End Quote.
42:05
Domestic brawls were common and Indian lands were sold for money
42:09
to purchase liquor. 1 Indian, she explained, sold his land in
42:13
19 O 4 for $6000 and in one year spent the money treating his
42:18
friends to liquor, giving them money, and buying himself 3
42:21
buggies. She enumerated the deaths
42:24
attributed to liquor from 1894 to 1914, beginning with an
42:28
individual who fell from a buggy and was not missed by his drunk
42:31
companions until the next morning when his frozen body was
42:34
discovered. The government's efforts to keep
42:37
liquor off the reservation had failed miserably.
42:41
Susan urged that the detectives appointed to patrol the
42:44
reservation be not local men and above all should be moral,
42:48
impartial and above receiving bribes.
42:51
Whatever small victories she achieved elsewhere were not
42:54
equal at home, and in 19 O 5, owing to complications from
42:58
drinking, Susan's husband died. She was left as the sole support
43:03
of an invalid mother and two small boys.
43:06
For the remainder of her life she continued her struggle
43:08
against alcohol. Following her husband's death,
43:12
the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions appointed her
43:15
missionary to her tribe, the first Indian to hold such a
43:18
position. She was furnished housing along
43:21
with a small stipend. The degenerative ear disease
43:24
from which she had suffered for years made her increasingly
43:27
deaf, and the pain now extended down into her back.
43:31
She continued nevertheless, serving as teacher, preacher,
43:34
field worker, and physician at the agency's Blackbird Hills
43:38
Presbyterian Church. She held church services, read
43:41
the Bible in her native tongue, interpreted hymns, and held
43:44
simple Christian services for those who died.
43:47
In November of 19 O 6, Susan and Marguerite's husband, Walter
43:51
Didick, purchased house lots in the newly established town of
43:54
Walt Hill, carved out of Indian land by the railroad.
43:57
Largely through Susan's work, the secretary of the Interior
44:00
Department ruled that no liquor could be sold in towns once a
44:04
part of the Omaha Reservation, another small victory in her
44:07
long struggle over alcohol. On her town lot, Susan had a
44:12
modern home built, complete with fireplace, furnace, windows for
44:15
light and fresh air, and an indoor bathroom.
44:19
Upon its completion, Susan and her sons, Pierre and Carl and
44:23
her mother moved in. Once settled, Susan and
44:26
Marguerite entered the social structure of the town, becoming
44:30
charter members of a new chapter of Eastern Star.
44:33
Susan, a major organizer of the New Presbyterian Church, also
44:37
taught in its Sunday School. Her home was on occasion filled
44:40
with family and guests, for she enjoyed entertaining the two
44:45
sisters, supported community projects, lectures, concerts and
44:49
special events at the County Fair at the Ladder.
44:52
Susan was in charge one year of the Indian Department.
44:55
She continued to be an active president of the Church
44:58
Missionary Society, urging townspeople and businessman of
45:01
Wald Hill to become sufficiently interested in projects to give
45:04
freely of their money and their time.
45:07
Soon many people begin attending the monthly church meetings of
45:10
the Study Circle, which held talks on topics ranging from
45:13
Mexicans to Black Freeman. Concerts were also held to raise
45:17
money for missionary work. Susan also became politically
45:21
involved when the government arbitrarily decided to extend
45:24
the trust period for the Omaha an additional 10 years because
45:27
it considered Indians in general uneducated and backward.
45:31
This was, however, not true of the Omaha, who had a higher
45:34
literacy rate than most tribes, she noted.
45:37
Quote. They are independent and self
45:40
reliant and competent as the same number of white people.
45:43
End Quote. Their last allotment papers had
45:47
been delivered in 1885 and the 25 year trust period, during
45:50
which time they could not alienate their land, should have
45:53
ended in 1910. The decision to extend the trust
45:56
term caused numerous hardships for the Omaha.
45:59
In addition, a new system of supervised farming was
46:02
instituted. The Winnebago and Omaha agencies
46:05
were consolidated, thus requiring longer travel distance
46:08
for tribal members to transact agency business.
46:11
AG Pollock, well respected Omaha Superintendent, was removed.
46:16
Protests arose from both whites and Indians over the additional
46:20
supervision quote. Every business action of the
46:23
individual is supervised and hedged about with red tape and
46:26
paternal restrictions and quote, wrote the editor of the Wald
46:29
Hill Times. All the Omaha wanted was to
46:32
lease their lands and draw upon their monies themselves.
46:34
But as Susan predicted, the entire tribe rebelled, depending
46:37
upon her to free them of these new regulations.
46:41
Unfortunately, at this critical period in the history of her
46:43
people, Susan was again stricken.
46:46
During the spring of 19 O 9, she was again close to death.
46:50
Specialists visited her several times, a trained nurse stayed
46:54
with her for almost six weeks, and the local doctor visited as
46:57
often as three times a day. By June her health had improved
47:01
sufficiently to permit her to begin writing letters protesting
47:04
the treatment of her tribe. In February, she was the
47:08
unanimous choice of Omaha men and women as one of the
47:11
delegates to argue their case before the Secretary of the
47:14
Interior and the Attorney General of the United States.
47:18
When she originally declined to do so because of poor health,
47:21
tribesmen threatened to place her body on the train.
47:24
Quote, the Omahans depend upon me, so I just have to take care
47:29
of myself To this fight is over, she wrote.
47:32
Despite a severe case of nervous frustration which prevented her
47:36
from digesting food, Susan protested the red tape which
47:40
made it difficult for Indians to get their own money and the
47:43
problems imposed in travel of the new combined agency.
47:47
Her efforts and those of the rest of the delegation were
47:50
successful, and most of the Omaha were deemed competent to
47:54
rent or lease their lands and to receive monies.
47:57
Susan occasionally wrote articles which contained light
48:00
humor. Invited by the Burke County
48:03
Farmers Institute to speak on, quote, primitive farming among
48:06
the Omaha Indians and quote, she put the history of tribal
48:09
farming on paper. Quote, there was no need for
48:12
suffragettes in those days, she wrote, for the produce of these
48:16
gardens always belong to the women.
48:18
End Quote. Her final draft was read by
48:21
Marguerite on February 13th, 1912 in Decatur, NE during one
48:26
of the most successful meetings the association had ever had.
48:29
Susan continued recording the traditions of her people by
48:32
writing an article on the origin of corn for the local newspaper.
48:37
Susan always returned, nevertheless, to her first love,
48:41
medicine. She was one of the organizers of
48:45
the Thurston County Medical Association, served several
48:48
terms on the health board for the town of Walt Hill, and was a
48:51
member of the State Medical Society for three years.
48:55
She served as chairman of the State Health Committee of the
48:58
Nebraska Federation of Women's Clubs, working to get health
49:01
related bills through the state legislature.
49:04
She began to study tuberculosis more intensively, giving
49:07
lectures on the subject at the Indian Church as well as to
49:10
local townspeople. When writing to Commissioner
49:12
Cato Sells in 1914, she suggested that children at the
49:17
government schools be examined monthly for the disease.
49:20
She told of an 18 year old girl who returned home with
49:23
tuberculosis and infected both her mother and grandmother.
49:26
All three subsequently died. When Wald Hill observed National
49:30
Tuberculosis Day, local doctors were invited to deliver lectures
49:34
on the subject at the two churches.
49:36
Later their talks were printed in the local newspaper.
49:39
Tuberculosis was not, however, Susan's only health worry.
49:43
Her other campaigns were against the use of common drinking cup
49:47
and the household fly. Her article on the evils of the
49:52
drinking cup was printed in the local paper, and the committee's
49:55
energetic campaign resulted in legislation abolishing its use.
49:59
Disposable cups were soon sold in local stores and sanitary
50:03
drinking fountains were built in all the schools.
50:05
Disposable ice cream dishes and spoons were used by the local
50:08
drug store. Another one of Susan's important
50:11
successes was the campaign to eradicate the troublesome
50:15
household pest, the fly. Describing it as the filthiest
50:19
of all vermin. Susan designed an attractive
50:22
anti house fly poster encouraging people not to allow
50:25
flies in their house or near their food.
50:29
By sprinkling lime or kerosene where flies might collect, she
50:32
pointed out, their breeding places could be eliminated.
50:36
She also encouraged the use of screens for doors and windows.
50:39
Fly traps were soon available at all local hardware stores.
50:43
Susan had always dreamed of a hospital where she could care
50:46
for her patients and avoid the long trips to hospitals in Omaha
50:50
or in Sioux City. After several efforts to
50:53
interest local philanthropic organizations in building a
50:55
hospital, she approached the Home Mission Board of the
50:58
Presbyterian Church. It granted $8000.
51:03
The Society of Friends, through the Presbyterian Church, gave an
51:06
additional $500. Marguerite and her husband
51:09
donated an acre of land, and equipment and furnishings came
51:13
from other individuals and organizations.
51:16
A benefit concert was held to raise additional funds, and the
51:18
hospital opened in January 1913. It contained 2 general wards
51:24
with a capacity for 12 beds, 5 private wards, a maternity ward,
51:28
operating room, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, and a reception room.
51:32
Both Indians and whites were admitted and in 1915 a total of
51:37
448 patients were cared for, 126 of them Indians.
51:42
The presence of the local hospital made it possible for
51:44
Susan to reduce her patient load and avoid long drives in the
51:48
inclement weather. Death took Susan Lafleche on
51:52
September 18th, 1915. The infection in her ears had
51:57
worsened steadily and by 1914 was diagnosed as decay of the
52:02
bone, probably cancer. Susan underwent 2 operations,
52:07
the 1st in February 1915, the second the following March.
52:11
By June her brother had been informed by the surgeon that she
52:15
had only a month or so to live. Her sons, Carolyn Pierre were
52:20
home from school that summer and they and Marguerite's eldest
52:23
daughter helped care for her. Carol was the only one Susan
52:27
would trust to give her the hypodermic injections and the
52:31
medicines. Her value to the community had
52:34
been so profound that the Walt Hill Times of September 24th
52:37
added an extra page to carry special eulogies of Susan.
52:42
Funeral services were held on Sunday morning, September 19th,
52:45
in her home where friends and relatives surrounded her casket.
52:49
The simple service was performed by three Presbyterian clergymen.
52:54
The Reverend Chapter Mitchell Moore, pastor of Walt Hill
52:58
Presbyterian Church, which Susan had helped to organize.
53:01
The Reverend George A Beath, pastor of the Blackbird Hills
53:04
Mission, where she had spent years of hard work, and Doctor
53:08
DE Jenkins, a member of the Presbyterian Board of Home
53:11
Missions, which she had served for many years.
53:15
The closing prayer was given in the Omaha language by one of the
53:18
older members of the tribe. Internment took place at the
53:21
Bancroft Cemetery where she was laid to rest beside her husband.
53:25
The Amethyst Chapter of the Eastern Star conducted a moving
53:28
graveside service. Quote.
53:31
Hardly an Omaha Indian is living who has not been treated and
53:34
helped by her, and hundreds of white people and Indians owe
53:38
their lives to her treatment, her care and nursing.
53:43
We are confronted here with a character rising to greatness
53:48
and to great deeds out of conditions which seldom produce
53:51
more than mediocre men and women achieving great and beneficial
53:55
ends over obstacles almost insurmountable.
53:58
End Quote. After her death, the Walt Hill
54:01
Hospital was in tribute, renamed the Doctor Susan Picot Memorial
54:06
Hospital by the Home Mission Board.
54:09
Thank you for listening to the Nebraska History Podcast.
54:12
To learn more about Nebraska History Magazine, to listen to
54:14
more podcasts, or to support our podcast by becoming a member of
54:17
the Nebraska State Historical Society, go to
54:20
history.nebraska.gov/podcast. And don't forget to subscribe to
54:24
the podcast and get notified when we release new episodes on
54:27
your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, I'm Chris
54:31
Goforth.