Outstanding Rochester Nurses

When forty-three-year-old Sophia French Palmer became Superintendent of Rochester City Hospital, she came to an institution in turmoil. Her predecessor had been removed for "the good of the hospital," the Nursing School was in disarray, and the hospital had a deficit. Miss Palmer was born May 26, 1853, in Milton Massachusetts. She graduated from the Boston Training School of Nurses (Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing) in 1878. For the next eighteen months, she did private duty in Philadelphia for the noted neurologist S. Weir Mitchell. In 1883, she was appointed Superintendent of St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she established a school of nursing. She returned to Boston in 1886 as Charge Nurse at Massachusetts General. During this period, she obtained post-graduate experience.

Her next position was Superintendent of Nurses at Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. Overcoming opposition from the city's physicians, she established the hospital's Training School.

In 1896 she became Superintendent of Rochester City Hospital. Miss Palmer was in the forefront of professionalism and nursing reform. She was instrumental in the organization of the New York State Nurses Association and the Genesee Valley Nurses Association. Through her energies, legislation was passed in New York State for registration of nurses. The title "Registered Nurse" was coined during an alumnae meeting at Rochester City Hospital. She was appointed the first President of the New York Board of Examiners. In 1900, she became the first editor of The American Journal of Nursing. She would hold this position until her death in 1920. (Courtesy A. J. N.)

Eva Allerton, the second Superintendent of The Rochester Homeopathic Hospital, was born at Mount Union, Ohio on December 15, 1853. She graduated from the Boston Training School for Nurses (Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing.) in 1885. As a graduate nurse she worked for Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia. She later returned to Massachusetts General as Night Superintendent. After a brief stint as superintendent of the training school of the Alleghany General Hospital she became superintendent of the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital (The Genesee Hospital) February 22, 1890.

Miss Allerton brought an “unusual executive ability” to the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital. She succeeded in getting its school of nursing incorporated in 1891. “In a large measure it was through her devotion the hospital” that it became a leader in Rochester’s healthcare community.

Through her tireless work in the professionalization of nursing she was part of the establishment of the American Society of Superintendents of Training–Schools for Nurses, New York State Nurses Association and the Monroe County Nurses Association.

Miss Allerton was active in the movement to pass the nurse practice act, the “Armstrong Bill”, that provided for the registration of nurses in New York State. She was chairman of the NYS Nurses Association Legislative Committee that led the way for passage of the act. This work was done under considerable strain causing exhaustion, and possibly contributed to her untimely death at the age of 53 in 1907.

Ida Jane Anderson, RN

1869 – 1958

New York State’s First Registered Nurse

Oh, the graduates of 1902
We’re the kind
That were always true blue
Their work never shirking,
With no interne’s flirting,
Those nurses of 1902.

This class poem was composed in 1903 by Ida Jane Anderson while she was a student Rochester Homeopathic Hospital (later The Genesee Hospital) class of 1902. Ida Jane was a remarkable woman, with a nursing career spanning several decades. Most notably, she was the first registered nurse in New York State, receiving this distinction after the passage of the Nurse Registration Act in 1903.

Born January 12, 1869 in Napanee, Ontario, Canada Ida Jane spent her early years with her father, J. Luman Anderson, a shoemaker, and her mother Anna Eliza Mills Anderson, along with three brothers and three sisters. In July 1887, at the age of 18, she left Canada alone and came to the port of Charlotte, New York. Ida Jane settled in the city of Rochester, New York becoming a dressmaker. Her brother, Charles, followed three years later and went on to build a successful business manufacturing soft-soled baby shoes.

In June 1899, at the age of 30, she enrolled in the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital Nurses’ Training School. Living in the nurse’s residence on Alexander Street, she studied and worked long hours. She enjoyed her three years in nurses’ training as evidenced by her association with the alumni organization, the writing of the class poem, the class yell and class song.

After her graduation in 1902, her parents relocated to Rochester, living at 179 Henrietta Street with Ida Jane and their six-month-old granddaughter, Ila Anderson. Ida Jane, who never married, essentially stepped into motherhood and raised her niece, whose mother had died in 1903.

In the 1930’s, Ida Jane became a world traveler. When home in Rochester, she preferred to travel on foot and was an avid walker. She was also expert in crocheting and knitting.

Ida Jane Anderson spent much of her career in private practice. She was the first graduate nurse to become a night supervisor at the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital. Later she became the hospital’s second Social Worker in 1909. She also worked at Strong Memorial Hospital in the 1940s. During the Smallpox Epidemic of 1902 she nursed the victims at Hope Hospital. Throughout he career she remained active with the Alumni Association holding several offices.

Ida Jane died at Monroe Community Hospital in 1958 and is buried at Mt. Hope.

She donated her uniforms along with her hospital pins and other memorabilia to the Alumni Archives.

Contributed by Pat Mims

Jessica Heal was considered the "dean" of supervising nurses in Rochester before her retirement in 1935. She was born in Somerset, England on May 18, 1868. In 1888 Miss Heal came to America. She received her nurses training at the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital, the forerunner of The Genesee Hospital. Upon graduation in 1896, Miss Heal worked as a private duty nurse for several years.

In 1900, Miss Heal went to work at Lee's Private Hospital on Lake Avenue as the Hospital Superintendent. She was also the chief surgical assistant to Dr. John M. Lee and remained until 1905. In 1906, Miss Heal returned to the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital as the hospital's Superintendent of nurses following Eva Allerton's death and Maude L. Johnston's promotion to Superintendent of the hospital.

Miss Heal was one of the area's first Red Cross nurses. She was called upon to organize the nursing staff of the third Red Cross Hospital, Base Hospital 19, in 1915. The unit contained 25 nurses from Genesee and 25 from Rochester General Hospital. They were activated in February 1918 going on station at Vichy France where they served from July 1918 to February 1919.

Miss Heal retired on Nov. 1, 1935. Upon her retirement, The Genesee superintendent Dr. Leslie Wright praised her work and expressed his sentiment that her retirement was a great loss for the hospital and the community. The Genesee Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association created the Jessica Heal Sick Fund in her honor to offset graduates’ hospital room expenses during illnesses. The Fund was viable over four decades and was discontinued in the late 1980s. Miss Heal died on February 20, 1961 at the age 93.

Chuck Ange
Philip G. Maples