This is the first in a series of random and somewhat incomplete bios of some of our relatives. It all started when Uncle Paul said something to the effect of, "I'd really like to know more about the French family. They're really an interesting group." So in my quest to satisfy Uncle Paul's thirst for info about the French family, I'm starting with Dr. Viola French DeLane, one of Elva Kemp's younger sisters. As you know, Elva is the mother of Paul Sr. and therefore grandmother to Paul Jr, Tom, Jack, and Dick.
Viola became a physician in the late 1800's, which, as you can imagine, was not an easy thing for a woman to do. We don't have many photos of her, but I've included what I have, as well as some photos of her family and some of where she went to school and worked. [As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it. But remember to click on the X in the upper right corner of the pop-up window to return to the blog. There's some really interesting material here and you won't want to miss it!]
Viola French was born on May 12, 1864, in Neillsville, WI. She was the third of six children. The eldest was Nettie, then Elva (aka "Grandma Sunshine"), Viola (aka "Doll"), Irene (aka"Dimple"), Edwin (aka "Ed"), and John Rollin (aka "Rol"). (Evidently they were big on nicknames!) In the photo below, Elva is second from left and Viola/Doll is third. (We come from solid stock, don't we?)
Their father was Benjamin Franklin French (aka B.F. French, aka "Doc"). B.F. had studied medicine from 1848 to 1850 "with Dr. Mellon" (as one account puts it) but later chose law as his profession. The Neillsville press recorded, "He occasionally waits upon his friends and relatives when they are sick, but never for fee or reward, he disclaiming, always, any pretensions to being a medical man, although his friends, in years gone by, by virtue of his two years studying medicine, dubbed him with the sobriquet of 'Doc,' the title he bears to this day, and which he claims to have acquired after the illustrious philosopher, Doctor Franklin." (Okay, I know we must have a better photo of him than the following crazy-man one, but this will have to do for now.)
Viola graduated from Neillsville High School and then taught there for a time. Circa 1887, she entered the Woman's Hospital Medical College in Chicago. The Woman's Medical College began in 1870 in response to male students petitioning the Chicago Medical College to please stop admitting females. The College had admitted three women the previous year, one of which, Mary H. Thompson, was already a physician when she entered. She received her degree in 1870 (the only woman to get a degree from the Chicago Medical College) and became the first female surgeon in the country.
Nevertheless, the Chicago Medical College faculty voted "that the matriculating officers matriculate no more female medical students until further direction by the Faculty." The President of the College didn't think much of women aspiring to go into medicine, but wrote in an editorial in the Chicago Medical Examiner that since some patients had objected to being presented to students of both sexes, steps had already been taken to form a women's college. In the editorial he (wisely) dismisses the popular argument that certain medical topics were too "indelicate" for female ears and eyes and also dismisses the argument that the presence of women tended to disturb male clinicians and, thus, endanger lives. He followed by saying that though women are little suited to the practice of medicine and they should certainly not be encouraged to pursue it, there will always be some of those women who are persistent enough to study medicine and it was best to open the doors for them and give them the same opportunities as men, while holding them to the same standards as everyone else. What a concept!
One of those persistent women was Viola French. To enter the Woman's Medical College required a "good education" which consisted of either a high school diploma or a teaching certificate. Viola had a diploma and had been teaching for a few years. She was accepted into the college.
Note that not too many years earlier, in 1871, Dr. Alfred Stiles, President of the American Medical Association, gave a speech to the Association which stated, "All experience teaches that woman is characterized by a combination of distinctive qualities, of which the most striking are uncertainty of rational judgement, fickleness of purpose, and indecision of action, which totally unfit her for professional pursuits. She usually displays a strange ignorance of the logic of reason and a profound contempt for the logic of facts." Thank you, Dr. Stiles.
The graduating class of 1891 shows Viola to be one of 30 women graduates. Her majors were insanity and gynecology. (As a side note, papers that were published by two of her classmates were titled, "Effects of Modern Dress on the Health of Women" and "Chronic Hystero-Insanity." )
Just to give you a bit of the flavor of what male med school looked like in those days, here's a photo of a class demonstration.
And here's an advertisement for medical supplies that was in the back of the book listing the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, 1870-1896.
One of the great finds on the internet was this photo of Viola, Adelbert, the three daughters, spouses, and their children. I'd never seen this photo before. It was a part of someone's online family tree, and fortunately included names of spouses and grandchildren. It was taken in February, 1926, at the Inez St. house. I love everything about this photo, including the amazing 20's clothes and hairstyles, and the child slipping off of Viola's lap.
Viola became a physician in the late 1800's, which, as you can imagine, was not an easy thing for a woman to do. We don't have many photos of her, but I've included what I have, as well as some photos of her family and some of where she went to school and worked. [As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it. But remember to click on the X in the upper right corner of the pop-up window to return to the blog. There's some really interesting material here and you won't want to miss it!]
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| The French siblings: Nettie, Elva, Viola/Doll, Dimple, Ed, Rol |
Their father was Benjamin Franklin French (aka B.F. French, aka "Doc"). B.F. had studied medicine from 1848 to 1850 "with Dr. Mellon" (as one account puts it) but later chose law as his profession. The Neillsville press recorded, "He occasionally waits upon his friends and relatives when they are sick, but never for fee or reward, he disclaiming, always, any pretensions to being a medical man, although his friends, in years gone by, by virtue of his two years studying medicine, dubbed him with the sobriquet of 'Doc,' the title he bears to this day, and which he claims to have acquired after the illustrious philosopher, Doctor Franklin." (Okay, I know we must have a better photo of him than the following crazy-man one, but this will have to do for now.)
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| Benjamin Franklin French |
Viola graduated from Neillsville High School and then taught there for a time. Circa 1887, she entered the Woman's Hospital Medical College in Chicago. The Woman's Medical College began in 1870 in response to male students petitioning the Chicago Medical College to please stop admitting females. The College had admitted three women the previous year, one of which, Mary H. Thompson, was already a physician when she entered. She received her degree in 1870 (the only woman to get a degree from the Chicago Medical College) and became the first female surgeon in the country.
Nevertheless, the Chicago Medical College faculty voted "that the matriculating officers matriculate no more female medical students until further direction by the Faculty." The President of the College didn't think much of women aspiring to go into medicine, but wrote in an editorial in the Chicago Medical Examiner that since some patients had objected to being presented to students of both sexes, steps had already been taken to form a women's college. In the editorial he (wisely) dismisses the popular argument that certain medical topics were too "indelicate" for female ears and eyes and also dismisses the argument that the presence of women tended to disturb male clinicians and, thus, endanger lives. He followed by saying that though women are little suited to the practice of medicine and they should certainly not be encouraged to pursue it, there will always be some of those women who are persistent enough to study medicine and it was best to open the doors for them and give them the same opportunities as men, while holding them to the same standards as everyone else. What a concept!
One of those persistent women was Viola French. To enter the Woman's Medical College required a "good education" which consisted of either a high school diploma or a teaching certificate. Viola had a diploma and had been teaching for a few years. She was accepted into the college.
Note that not too many years earlier, in 1871, Dr. Alfred Stiles, President of the American Medical Association, gave a speech to the Association which stated, "All experience teaches that woman is characterized by a combination of distinctive qualities, of which the most striking are uncertainty of rational judgement, fickleness of purpose, and indecision of action, which totally unfit her for professional pursuits. She usually displays a strange ignorance of the logic of reason and a profound contempt for the logic of facts." Thank you, Dr. Stiles.
The graduating class of 1891 shows Viola to be one of 30 women graduates. Her majors were insanity and gynecology. (As a side note, papers that were published by two of her classmates were titled, "Effects of Modern Dress on the Health of Women" and "Chronic Hystero-Insanity." )
Just to give you a bit of the flavor of what male med school looked like in those days, here's a photo of a class demonstration.
And here's an advertisement for medical supplies that was in the back of the book listing the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Chicago, 1870-1896.
In late 1891, Viola joined the staff at the Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane, Mendota, the first psychiatric hospital in the state, opening in 1860 near Madison. In 1895, she was appointed 2nd Assistant Superintendent of the hospital. And, according to The American Journal of Insanity from 1897, Viola was elected to membership in a society of professionals working with the insane. A study of the women admitted to Mendota during the early 1870's show diagnoses including "insane by overexertion," "insane by loss of property," "insane by nymphomania," "insane by abortion," and "insane by religious matters." Here are two postcards (yes, postcards!) of the facility.
Meanwhile, back in her home town of Neillsville, Wisconsin, this blurb was in the Clark County News, 1892:
"The French House has been rented by Drs. Esch and Lacey, and Frank Archer, and is being converted into a hospital. It will be run under the firm of Esch, Lacey & Co., who will soon issue tickets or certificates of membership to loggers and others... To our thinking, this is one of the best enterprises yet started in the city and will prove a great service to those becoming very ill. Already there are several patients in the hospital, some suffering with diptheria and other illnesses. Some people confuse the idea for which it is intended and are condemning it as a pest house. Such, however, is not true; it will be run as a hospital. A patient, suffering with whatever disease, will be taken there and cared for. Competent nurses will administer to the needs of the patients."
The B.F. French home was thus the very first hospital in Neillsville. It was on the corner of Hewett and Fourth Street, which is now the site of the public library. This was a boom time for logging. The logging and lumber owners would purchase "tickets" for $3 to $5 per season for each lumberjack or employee. If one of them were injured in the woods, he could go to a doctor, using a ticket for pay.
One little anecdote I love is this quote from the Clark County Republican & Press from February 25, 1895: "Last Thursday Drs. Esch and Lacey extracted a kernel of corn from the ear of little Ross Root, which is supposed to have been in his ear nearly five weeks. The little fellow is at this writing doing nicely."
Sometime between 1897 and 1900, Viola returned to Neillsville, perhaps to work at the hospital set up in her parents' home. In 1983, another hospital had opened in a home, that of Mr. and Mrs Lewis Ayers. In 1901 there was a blurb in the Clark County Press that read, "Drs. Conroy and Viola French operated on the removal of crushed bone from Herman Ketel's leg this week. Mr. Ketel has been at the Ayers' hospital since his accident last week."
Below is the home of B.F. French that became the first hospital in Neillsville.
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| B.F. French home |
During this time, Viola became Secretary/Treasurer of the Clark County Medical Society, Vice President of the Oshkosh Medical Club, and Vice President of the Northwestern Wisconsin Medical Association.
Meanwhile, in 1886, the man who was later to become Viola's husband, Adelbert H. DeLane had opened his own photography studio at age 19. While there are few photos of Viola that I'm able to find, there are plenty of Adelbert. Here are some of the early ones.
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| Adelbert DeLane - age 18 |
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| Adelbert DeLane |
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| Adelbert DeLane |
On May 11th, 1893, Adelbert married his first wife, Margaret "Maggie" Canon, in Neillsville. Here are some photos of Maggie.
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| (Maggie in center) |
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| Maggie Canon - age 18 |
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| Maggie Canon DeLane photo taken by her husband, Adelbert DeLane |
[I'm including the following photo just because I love it so much. It doesn't really fit the narrative, but who cares... It's of Maggie Canon's younger sister's Sunday School class, circa 1880.]
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| Sunday School class circa 1880 |
In 1895 Adelbert and Maggie had a son, J. Laurence, who died the following year. Then they had three daughters - Margaret (1898), Marian (1902), and Helen (1904). Maggie died less than a year after Helen was born.
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| Maggie Canon |
A year and a half later, in October 1906, Adelbert DeLane married Dr. Viola French. Viola continued to practice medicine, as far as I can tell. And helped raise the three daughters from her husband's previous marriage. This is a later photo of Viola, but I needed to get a photo of her in here somewhere!
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| Viola French DeLane |
Here are some more photos of Adelbert (of course!).
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| Adelbert DeLane |
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| Adelbert DeLane |
In 1916, the family moved from Neillsville to Los Angeles, presumably for Viola to be closer to her siblings. Viola's brother, John Rollin (aka "Rol") was by then a prominent physician. He was one of the founders of Golden State Hospital in Los Angeles, and Viola worked in maternity there, and later in the commissary. In the 1920 census, Adelbert and Viola were listed as living at 2265 Inez St., Los Angeles.
Here's a photo of Margaret DeLane, one of Viola's three step-daughters.
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| Margaret Katherine DeLane |
One of the great finds on the internet was this photo of Viola, Adelbert, the three daughters, spouses, and their children. I'd never seen this photo before. It was a part of someone's online family tree, and fortunately included names of spouses and grandchildren. It was taken in February, 1926, at the Inez St. house. I love everything about this photo, including the amazing 20's clothes and hairstyles, and the child slipping off of Viola's lap.
Adelbert died February 2, 1932. Viola died on January 29, 1950.
Here's a photo of the French girls that was published in the Clarks County Press in Neillsville, February 1946. It includes Viola Youmans (far right), daughter of Nettie French Youmans.
And a photo of the French siblings together in Los Angeles.
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| The French family - Rol, Viola, Elva, Nettie, Dimple, Ed |
To close, here's a delightful account of her wedding to Adelbert, as recorded in the Clark County Republican & Press. I think it sums her up beautifully.
Mr. Adelbert H. Delane and Dr. Viola French were married Saturday evening, Oct. 13, 1906, at the residence of the bride’s sister, Mrs. C.A. Youmans, Rev. D.H. Rohrabaugh officiating.
The wedding was a quiet event, only a few near relatives being present.
Of the bride it would seem almost superfluous for us to write. She was born and brought up here (Neillsville, Clark County); being the daughter of the late Dr. B.F. French and wife. After completing her medical courses in Chicago, she returned here to practice. Except during the time when she was assistant physician at the Mendota Insane Hospital, she has practiced here and is known not only to everyone in this city, but by many, far and near, where she has ministered to the sick. Personally and professionally she has won many true friends, who wish for her the happiness in domestic life, she so well deserves.
The groom’s acquaintance here is more limited. In the spring of 1905 he bought the photograph gallery of T.O. Juve and has extended the business in a conservative but progressive manner, and is recognized as a successful man of affairs, and a good citizen. He recently bought a home on the North Side, has had it fitted up and modernized, and there they began housekeeping at once.
We believe that in wishing this home its full share of comfort and happiness, we voice the sentiment of this whole community.
Okay, we're not really done here. There are two short videos (thank you, Rob Hummel!) of the French gang. It's sure fun to see them laughing together.... Enjoy!
