Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821, in Bristol, England. Her parents are Samuel Blackwell and Hannah Lane. Samuel Blackwell owned a successful sugar refinery. Elizabeth was the third of nine children, in a very religious and wealthy family. Her sisters were Marian, Emily, Sarah, and Anna, and her brothers were George, Samuel, Henry, and John. The Blackwell children never had public schooling because their father believed that the girls should have equal opportunity as the boys. Thus, they had private tutors teach them until they left for America. The Blackwell family moved to America when Elizabeth was eleven. They decided to move for financial reasons, social reasons, and because Samuel Blackwell wanted to abolish slavery. They moved from New York City to Newmar, New Jersey, and finally settled down in Cincinnati, Ohio. …show more content…
There she became the first professor of hygiene. The school grew over the years, but Elizabeth was not there to see it, for she went to live in Hastings, England one year after the school was created. There she founded England’s first women's medical college and England’s first women’s hospital. She also became a lecturer at London’s School of Medical for Women, and became the first woman listed on the British Medical Register. When she lived in England, she also adopted a young girl named Katherine Barry. She died on May 31, 1910, when she was 89, in her home in Hastings,