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A Woman of the Century:   A Crowdsourcing Project of the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries

June 30 - July 6

Woman of the Week

Juliet H. Severance, a physician who was born on July 1, 1833, is this week's Woman of the Week.  

  •  To learn about her by viewing her item, please click on her image.  

  • To read her biographical sketch in A Woman of the Century, please click on the highlighted page numbers to the left of her image.

Juliet H. Severance (2).jpg

SEVERANCE, Mrs. Juliet H.

July 1, 1833

physician

Nantucket, MA

p. 642-643

Dr. Juliet H. Severance was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1833, and grew up in De Ruyter, New York. Juliet attended the De Ruyter Seminary. She taught in New York as a young woman before studying with physicians and becoming a doctor. 

Juliet married J. Dwight Stillman in 1852 and became the mother of three children.  By 1871, she resided in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her second husband, Anson Bigelow Severance, and her children.

Juliet practiced medicine in DeWitt, Iowa, Whiteaer, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois., and New York, New York.  In addition to her medical practice, Juliet was very involved with the American Secular Union. Mattie A. Freeman was involved with that organization at the same time. Her personal network also included Lucretia Mott, who was her father's cousin, and Elizur Wright.

Juliet was a frequent public speaker on topics such as "the condition of workingwomen."

She passed away in New York, New York, on September 2, 1919.