I had never heard of Anna Wessels Williams. Anna Wessels Williams, 1863-1954, lived life to the fullest. She was fun loving and loved adventure. During her free time she would ride in stunt planes feeling free in the stomach-dropping danger and the exalted feeling of gliding, something not everyone could enjoy.
Anna’s sister lost her baby and almost died during childbirth because the person taking care of her was not knowledgable. This inspired Anna to attend medical school as she wanted to know as much as possible about the medical practices. She enrolled in the Women’s medical college of New York.
After graduating in 1891, she stayed on at the college as an instructor in pathology and hygiene.
During that time she also volunteered at the first New York City Department of Health’s diagnostic laboratory.
In 1894, she was able to isolate a strain of the very infectious disease diphtheria while volunteering.
Diphtheria was almost at epidemic levels with many, many children dying and adults very sick and dying. It not only did it cause fever or chills, but also attacked the heart and nervous system.
In 1890 Emil von Behring discovered an antitoxin for diphtheria and he needed a toxin to activate it. Anna isolated a bacterium where the toxin was 500 times more potent. This discovery happened in 1894, during her first year at the Dept of Health and she was a volunteer at the time.
The next year she was hired as an assistant bacteriologist.
Anna went on to help produce the vaccine for rabies. She spent her career researching venereal disease, eye infections influenza, pneumonias meningitis and smallpox.
In 1934 New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia forced everyone over 70, including Anna, to retire.
I admire her. In a time when women couldn’t vote, were looked down upon for holding jobs she was instrumental in stopping the Diphtheria epidemic.
Who do you admire from the past?
4 comments:
My grandmother, born in 1895, went on to go to pre-med, undergrad at U of Syracuse, where she met my grandfather. Back then, women couldn't go to med school if they were married, so she had a choice to make. Out of the 8 women who were pre-med, 4 married and 4 went on to med school. My grandmother, always said to me, when she came back in her next life, she was not going to marry. She was going to be a rural nurse, riding horseback through Appalachia, helping people. I interviewed her for my college thesis on women's history. I told her that nowadays she didn't have to make a choice. Of course, if she hadn't married, I wouldn't be here today. But she did go on, in her 20s, to work with Margaret Sanger on birth control in NYC - back in the days when Sanger was jailed for her work with women's reproductive issues, including abortion. She had always been a role model for me. She lived to be 98.
Deb,
What a fantastic history you have with your grandmother! What a great story that would make. Thanks for commenting.
Loved the post...
In the Foreign Service years ago and up until the 1970s, if two officers married, one had to quit the service. I am sure you can guess which one that usually was.
Thanks for stopping by Dari. I bet I can guess!
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