Mary Carson Breckinridge

Nurse, midwife

• Born: February 17, 1881
• Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee
• Died: May 16, 1965
• Place of death: Hyden, Kentucky

Education: St Luke’s Hospital in New York; British Hospital for Mothers and Babies in London

Significance: Mary Carson Breckinridge was an American nurse-midwife. She founded the Frontier Nursing Service and Kentucky’s Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery, which is presently known as Frontier Nursing University. Breckinridge founded these institutions after recognizing a need for maternal and child health care services in the rural regions of Kentucky. She led the school and the nursing service until her death in 1965.

Background

Mary Carson Breckinridge was born on February 17, 1881, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Breckinridges were a highly respected American family, with many male members holding prestigious political and social positions throughout the generations. She grew up in Arkansas, where her father served as a congressman. He was also the minister to Russia. Her grandfather, John C. Breckinridge, was vice president of the United States under President James Buchanan. Breckinridge spent time in Washington, DC, and Europe throughout her childhood. She was educated by tutors and governesses in Connecticut and Switzerland.

Although the Breckinridge family expected a great deal from its male members, little was expected from the females apart from traditional women’s roles. Breckinridge came of age in the early twentieth century, however, a period that saw new options available to women alongside marriage and motherhood. Breckinridge longed to make something of herself, but her conscious was bogged down by family expectations. She became depressed as a result, and antiquated medical interventions only exacerbated the problem. Breckinridge found herself weak and unwell. She turned to books and poetry for solace, and her mind grew more inquisitive with each passing year. She longed to receive the prestigious education afforded to her older brother, but the family took little notice of Breckinridge’s intellectual gifts. Eventually, they allowed her to attend boarding school in Switzerland. The experience profoundly affected the curious youngster, and she made many friends and learned many new subjects there.

Despite her schooling, Breckinridge was still expected to marry. She eventually did marry, but her first marriage ended after two years due to her husband’s death. As a young widow, Breckinridge decided to take nursing classes at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. She went on to earn her nursing degree in 1910.

Breckinridge’s second marriage also ended in tragedy and eventually divorce. Both of her children died young, and these events acted as an impetus to continue her nursing education. She decided to devote her life to maternal health and child welfare. She spent a few years working for the American Committee for Devastated France. In rural Europe, she met several nurse-midwives who specialized in both nursing and midwifery. Breckinridge believed such skills would be very useful in the rural regions of the United States. Before returning home, she went to England to take several midwifery graduate courses at London’s British Hospital for Mothers and Babies. She soon became a certified midwife.

Life’s Work

Breckinridge established the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in Hyden, Kentucky, in 1925. The school was originally called the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies, but Breckinridge changed the name in 1929. The service employed nurses and midwives to ride on horseback across a 700-square mile (1,812-square kilometer) area to provide care to some ten thousand patients in the isolated mountain regions of Kentucky. The group specialized in delivering babies, and Breckinridge routinely enlisted pre-trained British nurses to work for the service. She also sent nurses to England to train as midwives. Breckinridge relied on philanthropy to meet the facility’s needs, and she regularly toured the country in search of donors.

When World War II (1939–1945) broke out, Breckinridge lost many of her nurses to volunteerism and military service. She found herself faced with a lack of skilled nurse-midwives. The war also barred nurses from traveling abroad for midwife training. No formal midwife training existed in the United States, so Breckinridge was left with no choice but to found her own school. She established the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery in Hyden in 1939 and admitted its first class that year. The school’s student body grew with each passing year.

Over the next few decades, the FNS served nearly one hundred thousand patients and delivered thousands of babies. Breckinridge published an autobiography titled Wide Neighborhoods in 1952 detailing her life and career. In 1954, the FNS delivered its ten thousandth baby. Breckinridge continued to lead the school and the FNS until her death in 1965.

Impact

Breckinridge’s desire to serve the greater good inspired generations of nurses and midwives in the years after her death. She held memberships with the Royal College of Midwives, the American Nurses Association, and the American Association of Nurse-Midwives. Several buildings within the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery, whose name was officially changed to Frontier Nursing University (FNU) in 2011, were named in her honor. FNU has graduated more than five thousand students in its eighty-year history. It was the first school in the country to offer a program for family nurse practitioners. In 2018, FNU had an enrollment of two thousand students.

In 1962, Leslie County, Kentucky, established a Mary Breckinridge Day in honor of Breckinridge’s service. In 1982, she was posthumously inducted into the American Nurse Association Hall of Fame.

Personal Life

Breckinridge married Henry Ruffner Morrison in 1904. Morrison died just two years into the marriage. Breckinridge eventually got remarried to Richard Ryan Thompson. The couple divorced in 1920, and she resumed using her maiden name. The marriage produced two children, a daughter and a son. The daughter, Polly, died at birth. Breckinridge’s son, Clifton, died at age four from appendicitis.

Bibliography

“About Frontier Nursing University.” Frontier Nursing University, frontier.edu/about-frontier/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2018.

Breckinridge, Mary Carson. Wide Neighborhoods: A Story of the Frontier Nursing Service. U of Kentucky P, 1952.

Goan, Melanie Beals. Mary Breckinridge: The Frontier Nursing Service and Rural Health in Appalachia. U of North Carolina P, 2008.

“Historical Timeline.” Frontier Nursing University, frontier.edu/about-frontier/history/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2018.

“History of FNU.” Frontier Nursing University, frontier.edu/about-frontier/history-of-fnu/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2018.

Kleber, John E., editor. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. U of Kentucky P, 1992.