Bessie was born to a long line of doctors. Her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, along with a brother and uncle were all physicians. As a young girl, Bessie assisted her father in his medical practice. From her earliest recollections she wished to follow in her father’s footsteps. In her late teens Bessie contemplated marriage to the son of the town banker. While she was flattered by the worthy man’s offer her mind was otherwise engaged. An old friend of the family encouraged her to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor, referencing examples of other women who had become doctors back east.
Encouraged, Bessie approached her father. A discussion ensued.
Dr. Efner was surprised, he'd thought Bessie was destined for the altar. He wanted to be sure Bessie understood the ramifications of her choice. She would likely lose her boyfriend, who was unlikely to wait the eight years college and medical school would take. She may wind up unmarried and alone. And finally, after all her study, due to the general resistance to woman doctors, she may never have a profitable practice even after she graduated medical school.
Bessie assured him that she had considered all the possible outcomes and was determined. Her father replied “Very well, you’re old enough to know what you want to do. I’m really proud of your ambition and happy to think that you want to follow in the professional footsteps of your father and grandfather. I shall do all I can to help you carry out your plans.”
And he did.
Bessie left her banker’s son and went off to college. After completing four years at Morningside in Sioux City, Iowa she went on to Sioux City School of Medicine. After eight years of schooling she hung out her shingle in Hinton. She struggled at first to establish herself professionally, but perseverance paid off and by the end of the first year she'd made good headway. Then tragedy hit her hard.
Her sister-in-law died shortly after giving birth to her fifth child. Bessie's brother, father of the five, died a few months later leaving the children orphaned. The baby and the other boy child were eventually adopted. Bessie provided financially for the youngest girl while the two older ones went to an orhpan's home until other arrangements could be made. On top of all that, her husband of just over eight months died. In the wake of all this tragedy, her father came on a visit and suggested Bessie move to take advantage of a medical opportunity in a town that had just lost its doctor.
Bessie moved to Moville. Her practice thrived in the little town and for the first time she had a home of her own. She wasted no time bringing her brother’s little girls to live with her. Then the financial panic of 1907 hit. She lost everything but her clothes and medical office furniture. It was during this time that Bessie turned her mind to another of her childhood dreams. Homesteading.
Dr. Bessie gave three reasons to homestead:
“The first and most immediate, of course, was the financial losses which I had suffered in the current panic.
The second was a personal one. I had always had a desire to go out ‘where the West begins.’ The adventurous lure of the West had intrigued me since my childhood days. My father had been a pioneer in the early days in western Iowa and later in South Dakota. In fact, my Grandfather and great-grandfather had been pioneers, beginning in the State of New York and finally landing in Iowa, when that territory was opened for settlement. My brother, also a doctor had gone west to a new community in the state of Washington, and this same restless pioneer blood was also coursing through my veins.
In the third place, it just so happened that a special opportunity was beckoning me to go west at this very time. The Federal Government had opened large areas of Government grazing lands in the Western states for homesteading, and this included land in Laramie County, of southeastern Wyoming…The sale of these lands was handled by land companies…These companies were anxious to provide or cause others to provide the essential social services, such as schools, churches, medical care, and the like. And so it happened that I was approached and urged to go out west and locate in one of the new communities. As a special inducement I was promised that a homestead adjoining the town site of Carpenter would be reserved for me. All this seemed very promising.”
On 6 July 1907 Bessie filed on a homestead and arranged to have her house built and a well drilled. Then she went back home to Moville to wait. She and her three nieces arrived at their new home on 18 December 1907. Their house was “a modest one-and-a-half story dwelling, consisting of three rooms downstairs and one large unfinished room upstairs.”
Dr. Bessie thrived in Carpenter, Wyoming. She was their first post mistress as well as the only doctor for a fifty mile radius. While there, she met a young missionary and, after her girls were settled, she married again.
Dr. Bessie proved up on her land in 1912. She had this to say about her experience:
“In the end my ‘foolhardy’ decision and ‘poor judgment’ proved to be the wisest thing I ever did, because as a result of this decision I was eventually led to my greatest happiness, which could never have come to me had I remained in Moville.”
Dr. Bessie’s situation is my template for Dr. Alice Russel in my book Heart of Liberty.
Heart of Liberty is a Small Town, Grumpy/Sunshine, Christian Romance set amidst Homesteaders on the High Prairie of Wyoming Territory
Clayton Woodbridge has a secret that drove him to the wilderness years ago. Dark images of the past plague his waking hours. Clay knows the Lord has forgiven his past, but that doesn’t mean that the past is forgotten or even healed.
Ousted by her landlords who wanted their building for their recently graduated son, Alice Russel, MD moved home with her parents. Filled with the optimism of a long line of pioneers, Alice couldn’t resist the opportunity when the growing town of Liberty was looking to exchange a homestead for her medical services. After accepting the job, Alice packs up the twins she inherited at her brother’s death and moves to Wyoming Territory.
Clay cannot believe that such kindness and generosity of heart could exist in one person. His father and his best friend both believe that God has sent him a blessing in the friendship of such a woman. Clay knows he isn’t worthy of such a gift.
Alice doesn’t know what to make of the surly man who comes to her aide time and time again.
Can Clay and Alice form a bond strong enough to hold when secrets come out of the dark?
Izzy James lives in the traces of history in coastal Virginia with her fabulous husband in a house brimming with books. Born with a traveling bone and an itch to knit; Izzy travels to every location where her books take place, from Williamsburg to Wyoming, popping in yarn stores along the way.
Connect with Izzy through her website at izzyjamesauthor.com and sign up for her monthly newsletter.
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References:
Dr. Bessie: The life story and romance of a pioneer lady doctor on our Western and Canadian frontier as told by herself and here presented in a running narrative by her husband. Alfred M. Rehwinkel, Concordia Publishing House, St Louis, 1963
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9953607/bessie_lee-rehwinkel
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