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- Mary Forrester Hobart was an American physician who practiced in Boston, Massachusetts from 1884 until her retirement in 1915. She specialized in obstetrics and was known for her independence and resourcefulness. Her career had parallels with that of her great-great-grandmother, Martha Ballard; but Mary Hobart sought out the medical profession by her own ambition as an early entrant. Her service was due in part to caring for the poor in hospitals. Hobart chose to remain single for her entire life, since she could independently support herself. She practiced for 31 years in Boston before retiring in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, where she lived until her death.
Though Mary is known to be a pioneer in medicine, her great-great-grandmother, Martha Ballard, is a late 18th-century housewife whose diary is the main source for the book, A Midwife's Tale. Since Hobart was one of few to graduate from medical school in her family, it was only fitting to have a diary of medical importance passed down to her. Hobart was 33 when she received "a hopeless pile of loose unconsecutive pages." Her great aunts, Sarah Lambard and Hannah Lambard Walcott, decided it was best for Hobart to take care of the diary. She decided to donate the diary to the Maine State Library in 1930. Wikipedia
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1851 - 1940 (88 years)
