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U niversi^ Micrdrilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road Ann Afbor,M148106 8314783 Noever, Janet Hubly PASSIONATE REBEL: THE LIFE OF MARY GOVE NICHOLS. 1810-1884 The University of Oklahoma PH.D. 1983 University Microfilms I ntern 3ti O n si 300 N. zeeb R W . Am Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1983 by Noever, Janet Hubly All Rights Reserved THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE PASSIONATE REBEL: THE LIFE OF MARY GOVE NICHOLS, 1810-1884 A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY JANET HUBLY NOEVER Norman, Oklahoma 1983 PASSIONATE REBEL: THE LIFE OF MARY GOVE NICHOLS, 1810-1884 APPROVED BY ______ 'A-ctdL S .- i/jp SERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION: ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS . 1 Chapter I. THE CIRCLE BEGUN ........................................ 13 II. I WAS A BEING................................................. 35 III. A RIGHT TO SPEAK............................................. 55 IV. A BRIGHT, GREEN SPOT.................................... 80 V. WOMAN THE PHYSICIAN .................................... 110 VI. WRITING, MY TRUE PASSION........................... 139 VII. WE MUST BE OUR OWN .................................... 157 VIII. A TEACHER OF PURITY.................................... 195 IX. VARIOUS EXPERIENCES, SMOOTH AND ROUGH. 234 X. THAT AWFUL T IM E............................................. 266 XI. THE CIRCLE COMPLETED.................................... 288 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................... 311 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express iny appreciation to Professor Robert E. Shalhope, my major professor, for his encouragement throughout my graduate work. I am deeply grateful for his able assistance and patience. Professors H. Wayne Morgan, Robert Griswold, and Judy Lewis read the dissertation and their sug­ gestions improved both its style and content. I offer a special thanks to Professor Barbara Davis, not only for her extensive stylistic assistance, but for her courage and tenacity as di­ rector of the OU Women's Studies program. Professors David Levy, William Maehl, Jr., and H. Wayne Morgan ably guided me through my comprehensive examinations. The OU Interlibrary Loan Depart­ ment was most helpful in obtaining my rare nineteenth century source materials. I owe a special debt to Professor John Wilson of Princeton University for selecting me to participate in his 1977 National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar where I studied the influence of Quaker women on early feminism and "found" Mary Gove Nichols. IV Many people befriended me during my years of graduate work, but a special thanks is extended to Dr. James H. Lazalier, colleague and friend, who helped me cope with being a teacher, student, and human being; and to Virginia McCombs (ABD) whose friendship contributed in many ways and helped make the many hours of commuting less tiresome. I am very grateful to my parents, Genevieve and Tony Hubly, who always encouraged my educational endeavors and made possible a research trip to England. î^y sisters, Bonnie Hubly Hoggard and Dr. Erlene Hubly, aided me in very different yet essential ways in the completion of this manuscript. My husband. Bob, and our children, Nancy and David, already know how much their love and support have meant to me through all the years, but especially during the "Mary Gove Nichols" years. PASSIONATE REBEL: THE LIFE OF MARY GOVE NICHOLS, 1810-1884 INTRODUCTION ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS ...I f I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.1 Mary Gove Nichols was a fascinating woman whose multi-dimen­ sional career affords provocative insights into nineteenth century feminism. Born in rural New Hampshire in 1810, she came to maturity at a time when the role of women in American society was being trans­ formed.^ Throughout her life she struggled against the increasingly accepted perception of women—The Cult of True Womanhood—which defined women as pious, pure, submissive, and domestic. She witnessed the Jacksonian American world of white males expanding into a truly demo­ cratic society where individual effort, skill, and ability determined a man's limits; yet she experienced the shrinking of the female's sphere into an aristocratic image of "the lady," albeit a democratic version achieved through proper behavior. But Mary Gove Nichols refused to accept that new definition or its limits because it would retard women's development and cripple society. She challenged the Cult of True 1 Womanhood in all its aspects and the institutions in society that refused to allow women to grow along side men to develop a world based on talent and ability, not gender. Seeking the total emancipation of women, Mary Gove Nichols was a feminist foremother in many areas. Before Elizabeth Cady Stanton challenged the role of women in society, Mary Gove Nichols was living the life of the new v/oman. Before Susan B. Anthony spoke about women's rights, Mary Gove Nichols had lectured on the subject to numerous audi­ ences. Before Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree, other women including Mary Gove Nichols were practicing physicians. Before Amelia Bloomer advocated dress reform, health reform­ ers and professional women such as Mary Gove Nichols were not only preaching it, but practicing it. Before Lucy Stone made her protest against traditional marriage and kept her own maiden name, others in­ cluding Mary Gove Nichols had urged women to maintain their own identity. A half century before Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote about economic independence for women, Mary Gove Nichols and others had specifically addressed the need and offered solutions. More than half century before Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger challenged women to take control over their bodies, Mary Gove Nichols told women they had a right to their own ova and a right to choose their sexual partners. Almost a century before Virginia Woolf wrote about "A Room of One's Own," Mary Gove Nichols had claimed and won one. A century before Grantly Dick-Read and Fernand Lamaze wrote about painless childbirth, Mary Gove Nichols was teaching it. Over a century before Masters and Johnson were involved in sex therapy, Mary Gove Nichols and her husband were writing sex education manuals. Over a century before the Boston Women's Health Collective wrote about feminist self-help, Mary Gove Nichols was telling women to take control over their own health and teaching anatomy and physiology. Almost a century and a half before the Wellness Movement, Mary Gove Nichols and others were advocating preventive medicine. Yet Mary Gove Nichols, a vital and fascinating foremother, has been lost to history. How could this happen? The answer lies primarily in the manner in which historians have approached women's history and the tactics adopted by prominent nineteenth century female reformers. Initial forays into women's history followed the traditional belief in the importance of politics and emphasized the struggle of women to obtain the vote.* Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone emerged as heroines of the nineteenth century suffragist movement. Inspiring leaders, they lived with ridicule and disappoint­ ment, but courageously persevered through a half century of commitment to the cause. After the Civil War the organized women's movement they led concentrated on the vote, historically a mainline American demand. Eventually women received