Cow Hampshire

Ellen C. “Katherine E.” (Prichard) Hoyt, M.D. Photograph from History of Nashua, NH by Judge Edward E. Parker, 1897

In 1897 when the updated History of Nashua was published, the medical history (authored by Evan B. Hammond) reported the following: “Dr. Ella Blaylock and Dr. Katherine E. Prichard are the only two lady physicians of whom Nashua can boast, either in the past or present, and their success it a guarantee that their stay here is one of profit to themselves as well as to their patients. They were elected the same year (1891) to the Nashua Medical Association. She [Katherine E. Hoyt, M.D.] opened an office in 1889 and “although the first resident woman physician….” devoted her time entirely to gynecological work and obstetrics.”

Both of these talented physicians became

Ella (Blaylock) Atherton, M.D.

members of the local Medical Association in the same year–1891.  Both specialized in women’s medicine, gynecology, and obstetrics.  Both married within the next few years. Katherine’s husband, Henry Hoyt, M.D.,  was also a physician and by 1900 she had moved with him to Sioux City, Iowa where he had a thriving practice. They later to Wenham, Massachusetts.  Ella married Hon. Henry Bridge Atherton, an attorney and editor of the Telegraph newspaper.  She remained in Nashua, with abdominal surgery as one of her skilled capabilities, and practicing medicine in that city for many years. Continue reading →