Cleora Augusta Stevens Seaman (June 9, 1814 – July 10, 1869) was an American physician based in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

Early life and education

Stevens was born in

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History and the adjacent ...

, and raised in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, the daughter of Levi Stevens and Lucy Boynton Stevens. In midlife, she pursued a medical education at Western College of Homeopathy in Cleveland, the only program in Ohio where she could gain admission as a woman. She received her medical degree in 1860, the only woman in her class.

Career

After earning a medical degree, Seaman opened a free dispensary from her home in Ohio, and experimented with combining electricity and

hydropathy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The ter ...

in her work. In 1867 she was co-founder with Myra King Merrick of the Cleveland Homeopathic College and Hospital for Women. She was the college's first president.

Personal life and legacy

Cleora Stevens married John Farmer Seaman in 1833. They had seven children. Cleora Stevens Seaman died in 1869, at the age of 55, at her daughter's home in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. Her daughter Lucy Seaman Bainbridge became a nurse in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, and a temperance leader; she wrote about her mother's work in a 1921 journal article, "One of the Pioneer Women in Medicine". She also wrote about her mother in a memoir, ''Yesterdays'' (1924). Cleora Seaman's descendants include surgeon William Seaman Bainbridge (Lucy's son) and sociologist William Sims Bainbridge (Lucy's great-grandson).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaman, Cleora Augusta Stevens 1814 births 1869 deaths American women physicians People from Middlebury, Vermont