Representative women of New England/Eunice D. Kinney

by Mary H. Graves

EUNICE DRAPER KINNEY, M.D., who has attained a gratifying success in her profession and in educational work, was born in Southampton, York County, N.B., daughter of James and Catherine (Schriver) Draper.

She is a great-grand-daughter of Isaac Draper, an Englishman who settled in Ireland in the first half of the eighteenth century, and engaged there in manufacturing industries. He was for a tune very successful, owning several linen factories and over, fifty houses, but was completely ruined by the invention of the spinning-jenny in 1767.

His son, James Draper, Sr., born May 22, 1781, was married October 22, 1814, in. the cathedral church of St. Finbarr, in the liberties of the city of Cork, and according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England and Ireland, to Eliza Homan, who came, it is said, of a long paternal ancestry dating from the time of William the Conqueror. The Homans in general were a tall and spare race, the Norman blood evidently predominating, while the Smiths (her maternal ancestors) were large and heavy, most of the men being six feet or more in height. James Draper, Sr., after losing all his property owing to the rapid change in industrial conditions, migrated to New Brunswick. Here for some years his wife supported the family by keeping a private school. In course of time they attained to more comfortable circumstances, though not to wealth, and resided for many years in the country of their adoption. James Draper, Sr., died February 9, 1866, and his wife Eliza on February 5, 1872, when eighty-three years old. They are buried at Southampton, York County, near the St. John River.

James Draper, Jr., son of James, Sr., and Eliza Draper, and father of Dr. Kinney, learned the baker's trade, which, however, he aban-O EUNICE D. KINNEY doned at the age of twenty-one to become a pioneer farmer and lumberman. He was pos- sessed of considerable inventive talent, and ex- hibited at the Centennial Exposition at Phila- delphia a vessel entirely of his own construc- tion. The house in which he died, at Brooke Station, Stafford County, Va., October 28, 1877, is said to have been the one in which Mrs. E. D. N. Southworth wrote '^The Hidden Hand." He was buried at Fredericksburg, Va.

His wife, Catherine Schriver, to whom he was married November. 13, 1851, was partly of Dut<;h ancestry, her paternal grandparents coming to America from Amsterdam, Holland. In this immigration four brothers were con- cerned, two of whom — Tobaldo, or Baltus, as he was sometimes called (Dr. Kinneys great- grandfather), and Nathaniel — fought as loyal- ists for England's* cause in the Revolutionary War. In one battle or skirmish of that war Tobaldo Schriver narrowly escaped death, a bullet hitting a button of his coat over the breast. After the war Nathaniel returned to Amsterdam. Tobaldo and his son Abraham became pioneer farmers in New Brunswick, having been assigned a large tract of forest land as the reward of their loyalty. Of the other two brothers, both of whom espoused the cause of the colonists, all trace has been lost. Cath- erine Schriver Draper died December 13, 1866, and is buried at Southampton, York County, N.B. Her mother was Eunice Hillman, a daughter of Tristram and Angel (Lindup) Hill- man, English immigrants in New Brunswick, who resided at Southampton and at Canter- bury. The grandfather, Tristram Hillman, who was a sea captain, lived to the great age of one hundred and six years.

Eunice Draper Kinney, the direct subject of this sketch, was born and passed her early years in a log cabin. Her educational opportunities were so limited that up to attaining the age of twenty-one she had attended school but two years and a half. On August 31, 1871, she became the wife of John Gartley, of Magagua- davic, York County, N.B., who died June 16, 1874, leaving no property. In alluding to her subsequent experiences Dr. Kinney says: "After the death of my first husband, my first start in life began at the time I picked a two-gallon, pail of wild strawberries, which I carried seven miles to the railroad station and sold for one dollar. With that sum I boarded the train for Bangor, Me., having no idea of the cost of travelling. When I told the conductor my destination, he demanded more fare; but I stated that my brother was in the employ of the road, and when I gave his name he knew him, and allowed me to pass to that city, where I obtained em- ployment as a general housework servant. As I was childless and so very young, I was ad- vised by my employers to resume my maiden name, which advice I followed and found de- cidedly to my advantage in after years. I then began to realize by comparison with others how very ignorant I was, and, being resolved not to continue so, I devoted all my spare moments to study, until, much to my surprise, I found myself regarded as a woman of education. My medical education came about through force of circumstances, and not from any premeditation on my part."

Coming to Boston to prepare herself. Miss Draper entered the Boston Training School for Nurses at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and after pursuing the prescribed course was graduated June 8, 1881. For some years she followed that profession in Boston, showing great efficiency.

On August 6, 1884, she married the Hon. John Mozart Kinney, a well-known citizen, who had been three times elected to the Massachu- setts House of Representatives and twice to the State Senate, besides having held other import- ant offices, but who lost his property through financial reverses. Dr. Kinney had completed her hospital service and was in college at the time of her second marriage, but continued her studies. This did not at first meet with the approval of Mr. Kinney, but before his death, which took place January 25, 1897, he learned to appreciate her attainments, and benefit from them. She obtained her medical degree April 16, 1890, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Boston, and has been a practising physician in Revere, Mass., during most of the time since. W^hile establishing a self-support- ing practice she engaged to some extent in literary work. In June, 1895, she was graduated from Tufts College Medical School, which she had ontcred for a post-graihiate course.

Dr. Kinney has attained a high standing in her profession; and her practice, which is increasing, yields her a hheral income. She says: "My work is very inspiiring to me. To stand face to face with Death, and with cool determination to stand between him and his chosen victim, and come out the victor, brings its own reward, and does not become tiresome or monotonous."

Dr. Kinney is medical examiner for the United Order of the Golden Cross, press correspondent of the Woman's Relief Corps, a member of the Count Rumford Historical Society and of the Mycological Club of Boston, and also holds the offices of vice-president and superintendent of narcotics in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union at Revere. She is also a member of the New England Woman's Press Association, Medical Examiner of the United Order of the Golden Star, and is also a member of three Aiumni Associations,—Tufts College Medical Alumni Association, College of Physicians and Surgeons Alumni Association, and that of the Massachusetts General Hospital Training School for Nurses. She was formerly editor of a journal. The Nurse, and was on the editorial staff of the Medical Times, and Register, a progressive medical publication with influence and international circulation. From her parents Dr. Kinney has derived a punctilious regard for honor and integrity. Her love of music and her quiet, firm, fearless, and self-contained manner are a direct ancestral inheritance. She is a member of the Episcopal church and an active church worker at Revere.