Eunice D. Kinney (1851–1942; , Draper; after first marriage, Gartley; after second marriage, Kinney) was a Canadian-born American physician who specialized in hypertrophic arthritis and

neuritis Neuritis (), from the Greek ), is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant ne ...

. She was born and passed her early years in a log cabin in

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. Her educational opportunities were so limited that up to the age of 21, she had attended school for only two and half years. Kinney graduated from the Boston Training School for Nurses (now, Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing) in 1881, obtained her medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, in 1890, and her post-graduate degree from Tufts College Medical School in 1895. While working as a practicing physician, she engaged to some extent in literary work, editing several nursing and medical journals, and serving as a press correspondent. Kinney was the first woman physician to testify as an expert before the

U.S. circuit court The United States circuit courts were the intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system from 1789 until 1912. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, and had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversit ...

Early life

Eunice Draper was born in

Southampton, New Brunswick Southampton is a Canadian rural community in York County, New Brunswick. The community is located on the east side of the Saint John River, 3.71 km south of Southampton Junction, a station located within the village of Nackawic-Millville ...

, September 29, 1851. Her parents were James (1819–1877) and Catherine (Schriver) Draper (1827–1866). She was a great-granddaughter of Isaac Draper, an Englishman who settled in Ireland in the first half of the 18th century, engaging in manufacturing industries. He owned several linen factories and more than 50 houses, but was completely ruined by the invention of the

spinning jenny The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764–1765 by James Hargreaves in Stan ...

in 1767. His son, James Draper Sr. (1781–1866), married Eliza Homan (d. 1872), whose paternal ancestry dated from the time of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. James Draper Sr., after losing all his property owing to the rapid change in industrial conditions, emigrated to New Brunswick. Here for some years, his wife supported the family by keeping a private school. James Draper Jr., son of James Sr., and Eliza Draper, and father of Dr. Kinney, learned the baker's trade, which he abandoned at the age of 21 to become a pioneer farmer and lumberman. He was inventive, and exhibited at the 1876

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

a vessel that he constructed. The house in which he died, at Brooke Station, Stafford County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

October 28, 1877, is said to have been the one in which E. D. E. N. Southworth wrote '' The Hidden Hand''. His wife, Catherine Schriver (d. 1866), was partly of Dutch ancestry, her paternal grandparents coming to America from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Holland. Her mother was Eunice Hillman, a daughter of Tristram and Angel (Lindup) Hillman, English immigrants in New Brunswick, who resided at Southampton and at

Canterbury, New Brunswick Canterbury is a former village in York County, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It held village status prior to 2023 and is now part of the village of Lakeland Ridges. The community is west of the Trans-Canada Highway at the intersec ...

. The grandfather, Tristram Hillman, was a sea captain.

Education and marriages

Eunice Draper was born and passed her early years in a log cabin. Her educational opportunities were so limited that up to the age of 21, she had attended school for only two and half years. On August 31, 1871, in New Brunswick, she married John Gartley, of Magaguadavic, New Brunswick, who died June 16, 1874, leaving no property. In alluding to her subsequent experiences, Kinney stated:— Coming to

to prepare herself, Draper entered the Boston Training School for Nurses at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

, graduating June 8, 1881. For some years, she followed that profession in Boston. On August 6, 1884, in Boston, she married the Hon. John Mozart Kinney (1826–1897), who had been elected three times to the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

and twice to the

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

. Later, he lost his property through financial reverses. Dr. Kinney had completed her hospital service and was in college at the time of her second marriage, but continued her studies, which did not at first meet with the approval of Mr. Kinney. She obtained her medical degree April 16, 1890, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Boston.

Career

Kinney established a self-supporting practice in

Revere, Massachusetts Revere (, ) is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Located approximately northeast of Downtown Boston, Revere is the terminus of the Blue Line (MBTA), MBTA Blue Line, with three stations located within the city: Wonderland station, Wonderla ...

. At the same time, she engaged to some extent in literary work. She was a press correspondent of the

Woman's Relief Corps The Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) is a charitable organization in the United States, originally founded as the official women's auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in 1883. The organization was designed to assist the GAR and p ...

, editor of a journal, ''The Nurse'' (1892-93/95), and on the editorial staff of the ''Medical Times'', and ''Register'', a progressive medical publication with influence and international circulation. In June, 1895, she was graduated from Tufts College Medical School, which she had entered for a post-graduate course. Kinney served as a

medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...

for the United Order of the Golden Cross temperance organization), and several other fraternal orders. She held the offices of vice-president and superintendent of narcotics in the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

at Revere. She was a member of the

Count Rumford Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 175321 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he sup ...

Historical Society, the Mycological Club of Boston, and the New England Woman's Press Association, as well as three alumni associations: Tufts College Medical Alumni Association, College of Physicians and Surgeons Alumni Association, and Massachusetts General Hospital's Training School for Nurses. Kinney was a scientific observer of atmospheric phenomena preceding seismic disturbances and correctly predicted 21 earthquakes from one to three days in advance. In religion, Kinney was

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

. She was one of the founders of St. Anne's Episcopal Mission in Revere, and an active worker among the poor.

Personal life

In August 1894, Kinney was confined to the

for more than three weeks after a critical operation. At the time, her place of residence was Hotel Pelham, Boston. In September 1919, while making a temporary home in

Zaferia, Long Beach Zaferia, sometimes Zafaria or Zefaria, is a neighborhood in the eastern part of Long Beach, California. It corresponds to the area around Anaheim Street and Redondo Avenue, specifically "Anaheim Street, between Temple and Loma Avenues, extending ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Kinney was injured on

The Pike The Pike was an amusement zone in Long Beach, California. The Pike was founded in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house. It was mo ...

by falling over a rope, wrenching her shoulder and wrists, and bruising her face. In 1925, after a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

, Kinney removed permanently to

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, where she fully recovered. In 1940, Kinney became a patient in a

Bell, California Bell is an municipal corporation, incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located near the center of the former San Antonio Township (abolished after 1960), its population was 33,559 at the 2020 United States census ...

sanitarium where she died on June 28, 1942.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinney, Eunice D. 1851 births 1942 deaths 19th-century American physicians People from York County, New Brunswick Canadian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American physicians American medical writers Medical journal editors American women magazine editors Nurses from Massachusetts Tufts University School of Medicine alumni Woman's Christian Temperance Union people Temperance activists from Massachusetts Medical examiners