Cobblestones Home : Colonial Lives : Diary of Elizabeth Bagnal

June 12, 1793
   Today was a normal day in the office with Pa. This morning Ma and I went out to the garden to pick herbs. Today Pa only saw four people. One was a man with a fever. Pa sent me in to make some borage tea for the man. Then another man came in with a gaping wound in his lower leg. He said he had been out in the forest hunting when he tripped and a dead tree branch went into him. I got to help Pa smash up the rosemary in the mortar and pestle. For any normal person that would be disgusting, but as the daughter of a doctor, it did not really bother me.

July 5, 1793
   Every patient Pa sees has the fever. I really hate when we have to work with them because we must wear handkerchiefs on our faces for protection. Today Pa bled four men and two women with jaundice. One of the women, Susan Richard, passed out just as Pa started bleeding her. It was the first time she had ever been bled. Most people do not realize that bleeding is the best way to get the horrible spirts out of our bodies. Today was the first time I saw a man in great pain. He came in vomiting blood and his skin was as hot as coals on the fire. I feel so bad for the people in Pennsylvania where the fever started. But, Oh Lord, I wish this would end. So many people are sick and dying.

On a happier note, our cow Rose had a female calf which Abigail named Tulip. Also, two of our chick eggs hatched.

July 19, 1793
   For the past couple of weeks I have been very busy helping Pa with his patients. It was so sad a few days ago when Hanna Riley, a toddler of only four years, came down with the fever. It was so hard for me to hold back the tears as she was screaming and crying. It seems like everyone in the town has the fever except our family. Today Abigail and Ma went to the market to buy apples. Then Ma and I made apple sauce for dinner. Last week Rose, our cow, became very ill and Pa is scared that she might not survive. I have been going to her every morning to check on her, and I have been bottle feeding Tulip, her new born calf. It is very sad for Tulip. She might have to grow up without a mother.

August 13, 1793
   I have not had time to write in so long because I have been so busy helping Pa with all his patients. He has had ten to fifteen on a normal day. But now, with the fever, he has had almost twenty five patients a day. It is oh so hard to keep up with.   People come in with symptoms like high fever, pale face, vomiting, headache, and muscle pains especially in the neck, back, and legs. Pa gives them laudanum for the pain and tells them to go home get some rest for a few days, and stay cool with ice to keep down the fever. If any patients come in with more severe symptoms like vomiting blood, Pa has them lie on a bed in the back room and every hour he goes and cares for them.

September 11, 1793
   For the past week Pa has not been feeling well so today he decided to give me my very own patient. Her name is Charlotte Colvolt. She came in with a pale face and a fever so I decided to give her laudanum and I told her to rest for a few days. Today, on total, Pa and I saw forty two patients.

September 23, 1793
   Pa has decided to take a break from work for a week or two. He has been in bed for five days and he is only getting worse. Today, Charlotte came in for another visit because she has been vomiting blood so I have her lying in the back room and I have been keeping my eye on her. Today, was my first day all alone. I saw thirty five patients, but Ma has been helping me with the herbs and things.

October 3, 1793
   Today was the worst day of my life....my father died of the fever. I know it sounds like I really don't care about his death but I really do, and I am very sad. Now I have to take over in the clinic. It is going to be so hard without him.

October 6, 1793
   It has been so hard for me and Ma with all the patients coming in and Pa gone. Today Charlotte, the woman I have been caring for for almost a month, died of the fever. It was very sad for me because she was my first patient.

June 30, 1794
   So far I have been working alone for nine months. The more I do it the easier it gets. The fever is dying out and I have been getting normal patients. For example today Hanna Riley came in with an earache. I cant wait until the fever is gone and things are back to normal. The only thing that will not be normal is that Pa will never be alive again.

Epilogue

Elizabeth spent the rest of her life working in the clinic alone. Two years after her father died her mother also passed. She ran the clinic all alone and never married or had children. The whole town grew to love her even though she was the first female doctor they ever knew. She loved her job as a doctor and never forgot the things her father taught her. She worked until she was forty seven and died at fifty three.

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