writing as Angela Raines
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Anna D Chamberlain
When I find an interesting subject I
have to dig in and find out all I can. I love history, especially the
history of the region I live in. When I find women in the history of the Pikes Peak Region I really get excited.
In researching I found an early woman dentist in Colorado Springs. Yes, a woman
dentist practicing prior to 1900. While studying the city
directories, there she was, I even looked twice to make sure I wasn't
seeing a typo.
Her
name is Anna D. Chamberlain. I initially found her in the 1896
Colorado Springs city directory listed with her husband Frank C.
Chamberlain, also a dentist. Their office was #12 in the bank
building with a residence at 1451 N. Nevada Ave.
Anna
was born in 1866 to John Shaw and Helen B Shaw in Harlan, Page
County, Iowa. Her father came from Ireland and her mother was born in
Ohio. Anna married Frank in 1887 and they had three children by 1900.
In 1914 she died at the age of forty-eight.
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According
to her obituary she and her husband were associated with
dentistry starting around 1888. Some sources indicate they practiced in Colorado
Springs, Colorado City and Manitou Springs. One story says she loved her husband so much, wanted to be with him, so she
studied to be a dentist too. ( It's a story I can't verify, but if you like
romance, it is a good story)
Anna was not only one of the first women
to study dentistry, she was in the first graduating dentistry class from the University in Denver. Her husband, in addition to being a dentist, was also an
M.D. He received his Colorado license in 1892. However, no record of his pursuing medicine in Colorado Springs, other than that of dentist. When you realize how many physicians there were practicing in Colorado Springs, he was wiser to focus on dentistry.
His
brother Fred, who was a dentist in Cripple Creek in the 1890's, also
ended up in Colorado Springs. On a side note, Fred also married a
woman named Anna, but it was Anna B., very similar to D. As some of you know, census records are not always easy to read, so following the threads can be challenging. Some of those census takers didn't know how to write, at least in my opinion.
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In
addition to a dental practice and raising three children, she was
also active in the church, the WTCU (Women's Christian Temperance
Union), and in the late 1890's was the president of the local Colorado
Springs WCTU organization.
Anna and her husband along with Wm. H. Dewey and
Oscar J. Fullerton, created the Fullerton Consumption Cure Company
with an initial investment of $30,000, near the beginning of the 1900s. So far records have not been found as to what became of their venture.
After
Anna's death in 1914, her husband moved to California and remarried. After his death in 1928 his second wife returned his
body to Colorado Springs where he is buried near Anna in Evergreen
Cemetery.
In my novel, "Josie's Dream", I have a women who dreamed of becoming a doctor. After graduating medical school, she finds herself on the plains of Colorado establishing herself and following her dream.
Amazon Link |
Doris Gardner-McCraw -
Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
Colorado and Women's History
Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet
Angela Raines Books: Here
Angela Raines at FaceBook: Click Here
2 comments:
How ironic that each brother married a woman named Anna. I really enjoyed reading this article.My goodness, the courage Anna D. had to attend dental school in those times.
Kathy,
I agree. There were so many women who decided to follow their dreams in those days. I just hope my telling their story keeps their spirit alive. Doris
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