When a pale, frail or nervous woman patient was brought to
her she offered this advice:
“Now, in addition to your medicine I want you to take a
horseback ride every day, but mind you must ride the new style. “ She was referring to riding full in the saddle
rather than side saddle that society had previously demanded.
Bethenia Angelina
Owens was born on February 7th 1840 in Van Buren County,
Missouri. Her Family joined in the
western migration when she was only three and they settled near Roseburg, Oregon.
At 14 she was married but divorced her abusive husband at 16
turning to millinery work to earn a living and raise her son, George. When he
headed to college to become a doctor, she went to Philadelphia also to study
medicine receiving a degree in 1873 from the Eclectic School of Medicine. She
returned to Oregon and was the first woman to practice medicine there. She furthered her education at the University
Of Michigan Medical School and earned her M.D. degree in 1880 at the age of
forty. She spent time in Chicago and Europe before returning to Oregon and
Yakima Washington to practice medicine.
There were very few women practicing medicine on the Pacific coast. She
was involved in medical legislation and the suffrage movement.
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