Buncombe County

County History:

Buncombe

Region:

Western

Quick Facts

County seat: Asheville, NC
Population: ~269,452 (2020 census)
Buncombe county website

People and Biographies

Notable individuals from nursing history.

People

Mary Rose Batterham (1870-1927): Long thought to be the first Registered Nurse in the United States. Active in early nursing organizations and events.
Julia Choate Baxter (1920- ): Korean War Army nurse, born in Raleigh and raised in Asheville, NC.
Dorothy Butler (1927-2013): Mission Belle pediatric nurse.
Louise P. East (1940s): President of NCNA and first nurse president of NCPHA.
Ernest J. Grant ( ): Burn care nurse from Swannanoa, NC, and first African-American male President of the NC Nurse Association. (Wikipedia page)
Madelon "Glory" Battle Hancock (1881-1920): Most decorated nurse from any country during World War I.
Anne O'Connell (1920s): Nurse Anne O'Connell owned and ran a Tuberculosis Sanitarium and a boarding house for the patients' families and friends. During the 1920s, O'Connell constructed another important building in Chestnut Hill - the Princess Ann Hotel at 301 E. Chestnut, which served families of patients at the sanitarium.
Anne Penland (1885-1976): Nurse anathetist who served in World War I.
Pearl Weaver (1879-1969): Pioneer public health nurse from Weaverville, NC.

Articles and Biographies

Alexander, S.D. (1921). Emergency Experiences of a Private Duty Nurse. The American Journal of Nursing, 22(2), pp.84-88. https://doi.org/10.2307/3407339
Alexander, S.D. (1921). Emergency Experiences of a Private Duty Nurse (Continued). The American Journal of Nursing, 22(3), pp.178-181. https://doi.org/10.2307/3406985
Harris, M., Tenney, J. & McCafe, G. (n.d.). "School health: Pearl Weaver, 1st School nurse in Asheville". Paper found in the files of Pack Library in Asheville, NC.
Neufeld, R. (2007, June 7). Polio hits Asheville hard in 1948. Asheville Citizen-Times, p. D-1. About nurse Dorothy Bazemore Holland.
Ramsey, G. (July, 1948). Miss Jane Brown. The Health Bulletin, p. 13-14. This is an article about one of Buncombe County's early public health nurses.
UNC Asheville. (n.d.). Women and War - Nurses on the Home Front. The Great War In the Land of the Sky. UNC Asheville, Century American website compilation.

Oral Histories

Oral history of Dr. Mary Frances (Polly) Shuford, an Asheville female physician who describes her experiences with nurses. Found in the UNC Asheville Southern Highlands Research Center Oral History Collection.
Oral history of Marilyn Takaro, an Asheville nurse, 1940s-1990s, found in the UNC Asheville library collections.

Resources

Additional resources for further research.

Health Care Institutions

Publications about Health Care Institutions

(1954). If you ask me. American Journal of Nursing, 54(12), p.1476. Article from an African American nurse at Oteen discussing Christmas at the Hospital.
(1985). One hundred years of service: Memorial Mission Hospital, 1885-1985. Asheville: Memorial MIssion Hospital.
(1990, November 18). St. Joseph's Hospital - celebrating 90 years of service, 1900-1990. Asheville Citizen-Times, supplement.
(2000, October 23). A century of healing. Asheville Citizen-Times, p. C-1. Article about St. Joseph's Hospital.
Green, L. (1961, March 2). Service, healing, hardship. Asheville Citizen-Times. Article about nurses at the Oteen VA hospital.
Hebir, E.L. (1922). Instruction at Oteen. United State Naval Medical Bulletin, 16, p.121-124. Digitized copy available online.
Jordan, C.F. (2004). Treatment with a Habit: Asheville, Tuberculosis and the Sisters of Mercy [thesis]. University of North Carolina at Asheville Department of History. Available online.
Marlowe, N. (2004). The Legacy of Mission Hospitals: 120 Years of Caring. Asheville, NC: Mission Hospitals.
Pollitt, P.A. (2018). Dunnwyche -- NCNA's Home for Tuberculosis Nurses. Tar Heel Nurse, 80(11), p.11. Available through UNC Greensboro.
Rivers, A.A. (1922, October 7). Blue Ridge Hospital Opened For Race By Asheville Folks. The New York Age, p.2. Digitized copy available online.
Stewart, A. (1922). A determining factor in the suppression of Tuberculosis. American Journal of Nursing, 22(7), p. 544-547. Article about the treatment of tuberculosis patients at Oteen Hospital.
Tenney, J., McCatee, G. & McFee, M. (n.d.). Buncombe County Health Department History. An unpublished manuscript found in the Asheville public library.

Histories and Timelines

Archives

Annual Report of the Board of Public Charities of North Carolina, 1910. Digitized version available from UNC's Documenting the American South. Document has information about Dr. Carroll's Sanitarium for inebriates and the insane (see page 34), the Flower Mission (a group that was important in the beginnings of Mission Hospital) (page 58), the Clarence Baker Memorial Hospital (page 62-63), and Mission Hospital (page 64-65).
Asheville Colored Hospital (1943-1950s), information from Asheville Archives.
Batterham, M.R. (n.d.) "History of nursing in western North Carolina." Speech presented to the Asheville Nurses Association in Asheville, NC. Found in Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC.
Blue Ridge Hospital [photograph] held by UNC Asheville digital collections
Diary of Fannie W. Midgett, 1921. Digitized version available from Dare County archives.
Excerpts from Oral History Interview with Geraldine Ray, September 13, 1997. Digitized version available from UNC's Documenting the American South.
Highland Hospital (Asheville, North Carolina), information from Foster Alexander Sondley Asheville and Buncombe County historical preservation site.

Newspaper Clippings

1920, Jul 11. Great Work Is Done By Asheville Nurses, Report for June Indicated Intensive Activity on the Part of the Public Health Nurses. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.12. Asheville, North Carolina.
1922, May 20. Colored Nurse For Health Work Needed, Organizations Offer to Pay $25 Per Month Toward Salary at Association Meeting. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.12. Asheville, North Carolina.
1937, Aug 01. Home Hygiene Classes To Be Held On Monday. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.7. Asheville, North Carolina.
1938, Jan 05. Well-Baby Conferences Will Be Held Today. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.14. Asheville, North Carolina.
1938, Feb 06. Life of Nurse is Hard, But Has Rewards, Girls Get Three Years of Training Before Receiving Pins. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.9. Asheville, North Carolina.
1942, Nov 20. 9 Negro Nurses Are Assigned To Oteen Hospital. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.12. Asheville, North Carolina.
1946, Apr 27. 14 Nurses Replaced By Whites In Oteen, N.C. Vets Hospital. Jackson Advocate, p.5. Jackson, Mississippi.
1947, Jun 05. Negro Nurses To Meet Today, 25th Annual Session Of Association to be Held at School. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.12. Asheville, North Carolina.
1950, Dec 03. Army Nurse Julia Choate Gets Captaincy. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.36. Asheville, North Carolina.
1951, Feb 04. With The Women: Army Nurse Gets Commendation. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.23. Asheville, North Carolina.
1956, Feb 05. Negro Hospital Shows Well In Duke Report. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.19. Asheville, North Carolina.
1956, Jun 27. Chi Eta Phi Convention Opens Today. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.9. Asheville, North Carolina.
1961, Mar 02. At 82, A Nurse Looks Back: Service, Healing, Hardship. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.21. Asheville, North Carolina. Biographical article about Pearl Weaver.
1979, Feb 04. The Nurse-Midwife: A New Role In Maternity Care. Asheville Citizen Times, p.37. Asheville, North Carolina.
1993, Oct 26. They Cared About You. Asheville Citizen Times, p.41. Asheville, North Carolina.
1999, Aug 09. Karen Michalove, with 3-week-old Ashley, talks to certified nurse midwife Ann Brown during a recent visit at MAHEC. Asheville Citizen-Times, p.1. Asheville, North Carolina.
Harris, T. (n.d.). Awarding of Degrees to the Graduating Class of Blue Ridge Hospital Training for Nurses More Than Incident; Epoch. (n.p.). Asheville, North Carolina.
(n.d.). $12,000 Sought For Colored Hospital. (n.p.). Asheville, North Carolina.
(n.d.). Veteran Health Workers. (n.p.). Asheville, North Carolina.

Attachment	Size
Buncombe County Health Department Chronology, 1893-1958	47.35 KB
Excerpts of Buncombe County Health Department, 1921-1937	30.07 KB
List of Negro Nurses Registered in North Carolina, 1903-1935	18.04 KB
Nurses listed in the 1907-1908 Asheville City Directory	39.81 KB
Nurses listed in the 1922 Asheville City Directory	48.38 KB

North Carolina Nursing History

Buncombe County