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A photo of Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker 1832 - 1919

Mary Edwards Walker was born on November 26, 1832, and died at age 86 years old on February 21, 1919. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Mary Edwards Walker.
Mary Edwards Walker
November 26, 1832
February 21, 1919
Female
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Mary Edwards Walker's History: 1832 - 1919

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  • 11/26
    1832

    Birthday

    November 26, 1832
    Birthdate
    Unknown
    Birthplace
  • Personal Life & Family

    Doctor, Civil War, Women's Rights
  • 02/21
    1919

    Death

    February 21, 1919
    Death date
    Unknown
    Cause of death
    Unknown
    Death location
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  • Did you know?
    Mary Edwards Walker lived 16 years longer than the average Walker family member when she died at the age of 86.
    The average age of a Walker family member is 70.
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Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Doctor
Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Doctor
First female US Army surgeon, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.

She began as a nurse on the battlefield of the Civil War but became a (civilian) battlefield surgeon during the war. (She graduated as a medical doctor in 1855 but women weren't accepted for battlefield service - she changed that.) She was awarded the Medal of Honor for her service (the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor).

After the War, she was a supporter of such issues as health care, temperance, women's rights and dress reform for women. (Look at the photo!)
Date & Place: in USA
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Today we might wonder if this woman was transgender (in this case a man born into a woman's body). She sure looks like she would have preferred being born a man. I can understand preferring pants over dresses, but a top hat and men's clothes? She would have at least been considered a "cross dresser" by her peers. I wonder what her contemporaries thought.
My point of view is this, Sandra, for what it's worth: She was a woman at a time when women weren't taken seriously and didn't have the options we have today. In order to achieve what she did, she had to "de-sex" herself. Dressing like a man made others look at her for what she did, not how she dressed. Look at how difficult it is now for women to command respect, over 150 years later. She dressed as a man so that she would be seen for what she did, not for how she looked.
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Did you know?
In 1832, in the year that Mary Edwards Walker was born, on October 20th, the Chickasaw nation signed the Pontotoc Creek Treaty with the United States. The Treaty ceded 6,283,804 million acres of Chickasaw land in Mississippi to the U.S. In return, the Chickasaw were supposed to receive all proceeds of sales of the land by the federal government to private owners, along with expenses for relocation and food and supplies for one year and an equal amount of land west of the Mississippi. The area ceded included the entire northern one-sixth of the state of Mississippi.
Did you know?
In 1874, by the time she was 42 years old, on May 20th, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were approved for a patent for "blue jeans with copper rivets". They charged $13.50 per dozen jeans. Although the term "jeans" was first used in 1795 - in Italy - using rivets to reinforce stress points in jeans such as pockets and the bottom of the fly was an original idea..
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Mary Walker's Family Tree & Friends

Mary Walker's Family Tree

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3 Followers & Sources
Tou Xiong
About me:I haven't shared any details about myself.
Harleigh Nichols
About me:I haven't shared any details about myself.
Kathy Pinna
I am researching Tasker, Jones, Bowen, Rees of Wales; Kroetch, Chartrand of Canada; and Boggs, Ferguson, Smith, of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. Also Steeples of Kansas. And on my mother's New England roots - well, too numerous to name since she descends from Mayflower passengers as well as Dutch East India captains who arrived with their families before the Mayflower landed further north than was planned. :)
I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Director). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come. I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in Campbell (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our current Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director
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