First Lady Friday Returns
Dr. Patterson Bill for Services, to Mrs. Buxton, 1903
Alice Maria Patterson, M.D. was born on November 27th, 1869, in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel C. Patterson and Mary Harrington. She had a twin brother, Augustus and two older sisters Mary and Caroline. The family lived in Peabody, and Alice was the valedictorian of the Peabody High School Class of 1887. Nathaniel was a bookkeeper and the Peabody Town Hall janitor for about 25 years. The family resided on Main Street and May Streets in Peabody.
Graduation Program, Peabody Class of 1887
Dr. Patterson graduated from Boston University’s Medical School in 1893. You can see her thesis title below. If you are interested in knowing more about what classes medical students would have taken in 1893 or how much it would have cost – check out this link.
The Boston Globe, February 17, 1893
Dr. Patterson practiced medicine in Peabody and Beverly for about 16 years, before taking a position as second assistant physician in Faribault, Minnesota at the “School for Feeble Minded and Colony of Epileptics.” The state institution served 1,600 children. She returned to Massachusetts, becoming a trustee and staff doctor at Wrentham State Hospital.
Dr. Patterson traveled extensively based on ship records from the 1920s and 1930s. She traveled to Bermuda twice and on the ship Virginia from Los Angeles, California to New York in August of 1936. She was an active member of the Boston Appalachian Mountain Club.
She never married and lived life as an independent, professional woman. Dr. Patterson died on June 20, 1945 in Danvers, Massachusetts and is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery.
References
Ancestry.com, Patterson Records – Birth, Death, Censuses and Ship Manifests.
Boston University School of Medicine: July 1893.
https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/28950
“Boston University Notes” The Boston Globe. February 17, 1893.
“Professional Healers – State Surgical and Gynecological Society has its Annual Meeting.” The Boston Globe. December 14, 1893.
“Doing Some Climbing: Appalachian Mountain Club Members Spending Four Days in and Around Amherst.” The Boston Globe. September 3, 1905.