Angel On Horseback Mary Breckinridge

 Before Mary Breckinridge began the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), childbirth was primitive in remote, rural areas. Little was known about modern medicine and there were no physicians nearby.

Women usually had their babies while sitting on their husband's lap or on a chair with the bottom cut out. Neighbors or even older children helped in the process of "catching the baby".

But, for Breckinridge and her horseback angels, no home was too remote. The FNS credo was that if the father could come for the nurse, the nurse would get to the mother, even if the terrain became to difficult for horses and the nurse had to finish the journey on foot.

Mary Breckinridge was born in 1881 in Memphis, Tennessee. Though her famous and powerful family had strong links to Kentucky, young Mary enjoyed her childhood in Arkansas. As a young lady, she spent two years living the grandiose life of a courtier in the homes of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Her father was minister to Russia under President Grover Cleveland from 1894-1897. Mary was also educated at prestigious private schools in Switzerland and Stamford, Connecticut.

Her childhood was full of joy and privilege but, sadly her early adulthood was full pain and despair.

Mary Breckinridge's first husband died prematurely and left her a widow in 1906 at only twenty-six years old. Tragically, in her second marriage she lost both her children before they were five years old.

But, the challenge of agony would not defeat her. She comforted her own pain by reaching out to aid others.

First Breckinridge became a registered nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in New York in 1907. Then became a certified midwife at a London, England hospital in 1925 ( the United States did not have a midwifery school at that time). Armed with new skills, Breckinridge moved to Kentucky. She formed the Committee for Mothers and Babies in 1925. This group evolved into the Frontier Nursing Service in 1928. The FNS started midwifery work in Leslie County and part of Clay County because neither region had physicians.

Can you imagine a mother's joy, who knew her child would survive because of the Frontier Nursing Service?!

"Although no needy person was ever refused service, she charged a minimum of $2.00 a year for general medical care and $50.00 for births -- payable in money, eggs, guns, whatever..." Breckinridge once said " I am not trying to help them... we and they are cooperating... they are fine, intelligent citizens." Soon, doctors, nurses and social workers came from around the world to study Breckinridge's techniques and her unique blend of medicine and social services.

Crippled and in constant pain from a riding accident, she fiercely continued her work.

As the FNS grew, Breckinridge became a non-stoppable fund raiser as she traveled the country speaking about the Kentucky mountains and the remarkable people who lived there. Breckinridge raised $6 million dollars in donations which she used to support her work and build the Frontier Nursing School of Midwifery in Wendover, Kentucky. Today, this school is one of the most respected midwifery schools in our country.

Though Mary Breckinridge died in 1964, her story still lives on through the people she touched and their children and their children...

 Source:

Wilkie, Katherine Elliot. Frontier Nurse: Mary Breckinridge. Frankfort: Frankfort Historical Society, 1992.

Potter, Eugenia K. Kentucky Women Two Centuries of Indomitable Spirit and Vision. Louisville, Four Colour Imports, 1997

Breckinridge, Mary. Wide Neighborhoods: A Story of the Frontier Nursing Service. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky 1981.

 Above Photograph: Mary Breckinridge at a book singing circa 1959.

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