Mary D. Jewett, 1858-1928

Mary D. Jewett had two careers, one as a educator in Akron, Ohio, the other as a physician, primarily in Winterhaven, Fla.

Mary Jewett was born in Mogadore, Ohio. She came to Akron as a "day student" at the old Buchtel College (now The University of Akron) in its opening term (September 1872). In 1876 she earned both a B.S. and A.B. In 1877 and 1878, she tutored Latin in Akron.

In 1879 she became "lady principal" and instructor of Latin and German at Hiram College (Ohio), leaving there in 1883 to pursue post-graduate education in Modern Language and Literature at Wellesley College (Massachusetts).

In September 1884, she was back in Akron, this time teaching English Literature and Logic at her alma mater. In 1887, she was named the Pierce Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature. By the late 1880s, Jewett had already decided her future was not in education - or in Ohio. She packed her bags, enrolled at New York University, and started preparing for a career in medicine.

By the 1890s, she was a physician and moved to Winterhaven, Fla., where her mother, sister and step father (Dr. F.W. Inman) had already settled. It was in Winterhaven that she set up her medical practice and pursued an active civic life. She organized the Women's City Club there and built a school for African-American children in the area.

Jewett died in 1928 in Winterhaven. She never married. Her obituary in the Akron Alumnus magazine (March 1928) called her "one of the foremost women physicians in the country." She is buried in the Inman family cemetery in Inman Park, Winterhaven.

Illustration courtesy of The University of Akron Archives.

--Kathleen L Endres