Nancy Hill wasn’t born in Iowa, but she certainly made her mark here. Born in West Cambridge, Massachusetts in November of 1833, she served as an army nurse during the Civil War, stationed at Washington’s Armory Square Hospital, within 75 miles of such bloody battles as those fought at Antietam, Chancellorsville, and the Battle of the Wilderness. The chief surgeon there was so impressed with her work that he encouraged her to study medicine, so after the war, she went to the University of Michigan, which was the only medical school at that time to accept women. She graduated second in her class at the age of 41…and that’s when her Iowa story begins.
Dr. Nancy Hill moved to Dubuque in 1875, shortly after graduating from medical school. She was the first female doctor in Dubuque, and one of fewer than a dozen in the whole state. She practiced medicine there for nearly 40 years, specializing in obstetrics; by her own count, she delivered a thousand babies during that time.
In 1896, feeling great concern for unwed mothers and lack of care their babies received, Dr. Hill founded the Women’s Rescue Society of Dubuque and operated the home until her 80th birthday; you know it today as Hillcrest Family Services, serving tens of thousands of clients each year with vital social services throughout the state of Iowa.
Dr. Nancy Hill was also president of the Dubuque Women’s Suffrage Association, and stirred up controversy when she called out the Daughters of the American Revolution for not supporting suffrage strongly enough, saying they were too content to tell of the glory of their ancestors, instead of battling to gain the same principles of law for themselves.
Dr. Nancy Hill was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame 70 years after her death, which was on this date in 1919.
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