Joyce Hobson, photo courtesy of Dottie Young
Joyce Hobson (1851-1939) was the first known woman doctor in Hamilton County. She was born Joyce Fredrica Richards in Tipton County, and her family had moved to Adams Township by 1870. Her first career was as a teacher in the Boxley School in 1875. She married William Hobson in 1876 and changed professions sometime after that. She graduated from Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati in 1878. She started her Noblesville practice in 1879 and, as was the custom at the time, was usually referred to as Mrs. Dr. Hobson. Her husband apparently left her sometime around 1880.
She practiced “eclectic” medicine, which might be called holistic today. Practitioners didn’t follow one school of practice but would try anything that worked: standard drugs and techniques, herbalism, physiotherapy, etc. This was considered outside of “standard” medical practice, so she was not admitted to any of the local medical associations. She focused her skills on women and children and was popular with her patients.
Beach Medical College in the September 1883 Eclectic Medical Journal
In March of 1883, her life became very complicated. She was appointed to the board of directors of the Beach Medical College, where she was also the Professor of Obstetrics. She was co-editor of the Eclectic Medical Journal and delivered scholarly papers at conventions. However, that same month, she ran into some serious problems with the Hamilton County Medical Society.
The Hamilton County Medical Society had been formed in 1873 to ensure standards of medical practice in the county. There were still quacks and medicine shows that came through the area, but they weren’t approved of. Unfortunately for Dr. Hobson, eclectic medicine was not on the approved list of practices.
For the conflict with the Medical Society, it was actually an ally of hers that ran into trouble, but fortunately, he had the personality and self-assuredness to brush it right off.
William Henry Cyrus (1837-1915), usually referred to as W. H. Cyrus, was born in Illinois and was a graduate of the University of Iowa. During the Civil War, he was a surgeon with the 54th Indiana infantry and rose to the rank of Captain. He moved to Hamilton County and began practicing medicine in Delaware Township, then moved to Noblesville and opened an office in 1880. He became president of the Medical Society that same year.
His obituary stated, “He was a very broad minded man with scholarly attainments and a physician far in advance of his time.” Someone who knew him was quoted as saying, “He would consult with a physician of any school.” Dr. Cyrus’s broadmindedness combined with Dr. Hobson’s non-standard practice led to the clash with the society.
At a meeting on March 20, 1883, the society presented three cases where they felt that Dr. Cyrus had violated the code of ethics by consulting with Dr. Hobson. The first was on November 8, 1881 for Amanda Dunning who had given birth a week earlier. Both mother and son survived. The next was on March 6, 1883 for Hulda Wheeler. She was suffering from an unspecified illness. The last was on March 13, 1883 for helping with the delivery of the child of Margaret Sapper. Sadly, the child died.
One of the additional charges was that when the society criticized him for consulting with Dr. Hobson, he replied quite bluntly “He would be damned if he would go back on the woman.”
At the hearing, Dr. Cyrus declared that, “…he was on earth to do good to humanity and he proposed to continue that practice if he thought it would result in benefitting suffering people”. The Medical Society expelled him for his stance by a vote of 8 to 3. This was later rescinded after an appeal to the State Medical Board. However, at that point, Dr. Cyrus quit the society and continued his practice without them. The newspaper said that local people were largely sympathetic to him.
Dr. Cyrus later moved to Florida for his health. After he had made some recovery, he found himself helping to stop a yellow fever epidemic in 1888. He spent the rest of his life in Florida.
Noblesville Ledger, July 23, 1886
Back in Noblesville in 1883, Dr. Hobson’s problems were not over. In June, someone spread a nasty rumor that Dr. Hobson had spread smallpox to one of her patients. The patient put a public notice in the newspaper refuting this.
Despite all of this, Dr. Hobson continued to practice in Noblesville. She worked with other women who became doctors as well – Lucy Gossett and Mivinda Wheeler. She joined local social organizations like the United Order of Honor, one of the few lodges that would admit both men and women. She wrote an article titled “Woman’s Sphere in Medicine” for a magazine called The Medical Free Press in January 1890. She worked very hard, and she was encouraged to take more rest. After a few visits to Arkansas for vacation, she moved there in 1891. While there, she married her second husband, John Osborne, in 1893. He suffered from health issues, and they eventually moved to California. After he died in 1903, she lived there for the rest of her life.