Woman of the Century/Elmira Y. Howard

HOWARD, Mrs. Elmira Y., physician, born ELMIRA Y. HOWARD. in Shelby, Richland county, Ohio, 3rd May, 1841. Her mother's family were people of education and refinement, of old Puritan stock. Stephen Marvin, her maternal grandfather, was born in Connecticut. His wife was Sarah Burr Sherwood, daughter of Deborah Burr, a second cousin of Aaron Burr. from her grandmother Dr. Howard inherited her taste for medical studies. Dr. Howard's father's family were Virginians. She is one of several children. In 1859 she became the wife of Jerome B. Howard, an artist. Her husband was a son of Nathan Howard, of Stephentown, N. Y., and a brother of Judge Howard, of New York, the author of "Howard's Reports." Jerome B. Howard, as an artist, was connected with the Stale Normal School, of New York. When the Civil War broke out, he volunteered. Until then Dr. Howard's life had been calm and uneventful. Three children were born to her, two boys and a girl. Her husband was past the age of forty-five when he volunteered. He was taken prisoner by Mosby and died in Andersonville prison. Left a widow at the age of twenty-three years, with three helpless children, and wholly unprepared for the battle of life, her position was painful. Finally she decided to study- medicine, tier parents demurred, but Mrs. Howard was firm. Her little girl was a cripple, and the study of medicine was suggested by that fact. At the age of twenty-seven she went to New York. She entered the New York Medical College for Women and was graduated. She was induced to move to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870, and she opened there an office for practice, the first woman in that city to take such a responsibility. She was heartily welcomed and endorsed by the medical fraternity, and her efforts were soon appreciated. Her first year's practice brought her a mere living. The second year she doubled it, and the third year trebled her income. Her health failed through over-taxation, and in 1873-74 she went to Europe, and studied in the Vienna Hospital nine months. While absent, she was a correspondent of the Cincinnati "Commercial-Gazette." Dr Howard studied both allopathy and homeopathy, but is a homeopathic practitioner, and has built up a tine practice. She is very charitable.