Martha Purple was born about 1816 in Connecticut, the daughter of Isham and Phoebe Purple. She grew up in the east and came to Michigan with her family after her sister Mary was married to Morgan Lyon, who was given bounty land in Michigan in compensation for his father’s death in the War of 1812. Apparently, Martha was engaged to be married when she was young, but her fiancé died just before their wedding was to take place. Martha was devastated, but then dedicated her life to the practice of medicine. In 1858, Martha was newly located in Battle Creek, Michigan but had already been a practicing physician for ten years. Martha lived in Battle Creek and gave her occupation as “doctress” when the 1860 census was taken.
Elizabeth Blackwell, generally accepted as the first female physician in the United States, graduated from Geneva Medical College in New York in 1849. Unfortunately, we have not been able to discover the origin of Martha Purple’s medical training, but as she had already been practicing for ten years in 1858, it is likely that her possibly less formal training was completed even before that of Elizabeth Blackwell. Given the typical course of medical education at the time, instead of attending a medical college that would have retained a record of her course of study, Martha probably apprenticed herself to a practicing physician, working as a nurse while she trained to become a doctor herself.
The Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory of 1863-1864 listed Martha as a physician in Battle Creek; in 1867 she was listed as an eclectic physician in Lowell. In 1870, Martha was living with her sister Louisa Lyon in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan and was still working as a physician. (After the death of Martha’s sister Mary, Morgan Lyon was married to their other sister Louisa.) Business directories of 1870 and 1871 listed Martha as a physician on Bridge Street in Lowell.
The 1880 census located Martha still residing in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan, where she was a medical doctor. Michigan, Kent County, Grand Rapids and Lowell directories of the time listed Martha as a physician in 1883 and 1884-1885.
Martha was well known for many years through Lowell and the Grand Rapids area as a capable and knowledgeable doctor for women and children long before such specialties as pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics were thought of in Michigan. The health and wellness of women, babies and young children were her primary objectives; her obituary, below, will give you an idea of how very much in demand her services were. It would be many long years before anyone was qualified to take her place after her death.
Lowell Journal, 10 September 1884: “The death of Dr. Martha Purple of this village is deeply mourned by all who knew the noble qualities of her mind and heart. A fitting testimonial to her worth from the pen of a correspondent will be seen in another column of this paper. In memory of Miss Martha N. Purple. Whereas, The Great Intelligence has, by unchangeable law, removed from our midst our worthy member and Vice President whose life here was one of kind words and good deeds. Therefore, resolved, that in her departure this League has lost a good and worthy member and efficient officer, society an honest and useful member, her relatives a kind, sympathizing and steadfast friend. Resolved, that we regret her departure, will imitate her good examples and sympathize with her relatives in their affliction. Resolved, that a copy of these be published in the Lowell Journal, a copy placed on the records of this League, a copy transmitted to the friends of the departed. By order of the Lowell Liberal League.
Death of Dr. Martha Purple. On Thursday, Sept. 4th, in the early evening, our village was startled by the announcement of the sudden death from heart disease of Dr. Martha Purple. Although in failing health for some time, her indomitable will had kept her at her work until the day before she died, and the news of her death was a great shock to the community. When Death enters any home in our midst, his presence is so terrible that it is felt, if only as a momentary shadow, in all of our homes, but in this harvest, although he gathered but the one sheaf of ripened grain it was plucked from no one homestead but from widely scattered fields; and the quick work of his sharpened sickle filled scores of homes in the village and surrounding country with grief and a strong sense of personal bereavement. Dr. Purple was a woman of no ordinary strength of character. For more than a score of years she has practiced her profession here, bringing into our homes, in the hour of need, her wise head, large heart and strong head; as surely to be relied upon as the dawning of the sun; and the strongest testimony to her worth is found in the number of sincere mourners who weep for her today. It may be well for our young girls to look for a moment at the life of this noble woman whom they have passed every day upon the street. To throw a stronger light upon it let us with reverent hands wipe the dust of years from a turned down leaf in her history. In early life death came between her and her future on the very eve of marriage. Utterly prostrated for a long time by this blow, she neither sought refuge in suicide nor forgetfulness in the pleasure of the world, but with the determination to make the most of herself she gathered the broken threads of her life, and what she has woven of them is known by the poor and distressed. Entering on her profession when to do so placed her almost outside the pale of human sympathy, when for a woman to do that most womanly work which had hitherto been done only by men was to voluntarily invite upon her head obloquy and contempt it is hard for the young lady student of today, who comes forth from our University crowned with the approval of professors and the pride of friends to realize the roughness of the path that such as she was forced to tread. But the leaf of history has been turned and she lived to see the name of woman written in clearer letters on the new page, to see her unassuming and faithful work appreciated, and has won the respect of her fellow practitioners, and the fullest confidence of her many patients. She has proved by her success her right to the profession she chose. To the large class of mothers who for so long leaned on her, and the many children whose friend she was, this blow falls heavily. We lose in her, not only the skillful physician but the faithful nurse and loving friend, one who was largely interested in every work tending to the uplifting of womanhood; and while we think with falling tears of the hours of sickness when we shall need her and she cannot come, and of our large indebtedness to her, and the meagerness of our gratitude, let us be glad with a great thanksgiving that she has found that rest that her sixty-eight years of life has made sweet, hoping that we may be allowed to join the many who shall ‘rise up and call her blessed.’”
Martha’s sister Mary and her husband Morgan Lyon were my husband’s ancestors. He has often expressed chagrin that Martha Purple and Morgan Lyon are essentially forgotten historical figures by the Lowell community. They both contributed so much to the area’s advancements in farming, industry and medical science, and a hundred years later no mention of them was made to the schoolchildren who walked in their footsteps.
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