Representative women of New England/Martha E. F. Mann

2345075Representative women of New England — Martha E. F. MannMary H. Graves

MARTHA ELIZABETH FOSS MANN, M.D., a well-established medical practitioner in Boston, was born in this city, March 9, 1848, daughter of Charles Meade and Martha Eiizabeth (Hatchman) Foss. Her father, who was for many years a prosperous jeweller in Boston, came of the old New Hampshire Foss family. Dr. Mann's great-grandfather Foss was a Revolutionary soldier, enlisting at Rye, N.H., and serving under General Stark at the battle of Bennington. At the cIose of the war he took u|i laml in Meredith, N.H., where he subsecjueutly resided until his death. A maternal ancestor, John Hatchman, was also a Revolutionary soldier; and through these valiant and patriotic men Dr. Mann holds membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, belonging to Boston Tea Party Chapter. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Boston and at one of the leading private schools, where, after being graduated from the high school, she continued her studies for four years.

On February 22, 1871, she married Dr. Benjamin Houstcjn Mann, a graduate of the Harvard Medical School and a soldier in the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War. Four children we're born of this marriage, all sons, namely: Benjamin Percy, November 9, 1871; Charles Foss, April 23, 1873, who died April 4, 1877; Houston, December 31, 1875; and Arthur Meade, February 5, 1879.

In 1881 Dr. Benjamin H. Mann died; and his widow, with her three children, returned to her father's home. Deciding to adopt the medical profession, she entered Boston University in 1882, received her degree in 1885, and immediately began practice in Boston. For seven years she was the assistant of the eminent Dr. Horace Packard in his private practice and hospital work. Dr. Mann has served for five years as secretary of the Boston Homœopathic Medical Society, was vice-president of the Boston Gynæcological Society, was president of the Twentieth Century Medical Society, is a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and of the Massachusetts Homœopathic Medical Society, and is instructor and lecturer at Boston University.

From her youth Dr. Mann has been a member of the Congregational church, but she attaches more importance to daily works than to creed. Though possessing much natural aptitude for her profession, which was fostered by her association with her husband, her success has been due to concentration of purpose and unceasing labor rather than to any fortuitous circumstances.