It's National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, reports that each year in the United States, over 22,440 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That means 1 in 75 women will develop ovarian cancer in her lifetime. More than 14,000 will die from it!  

I began researching this disease after finding the grave of Jane Todd Crawford in Sullivan County, Indiana several years ago. Jane was the first person to survive abdominal surgery – for a 22-pound ovarian tumor.

Jane Todd Crawford

It was December 1809 when Jane Todd Crawford became concerned about a pregnancy that was long overdue. At the age of 46, and as a mother of four, she knew something was wrong and that she needed medical attention.

Ephraim McDowell

Jane wrote to Dr. Ephraim McDowell in Danville, Kentucky, explaining her condition. McDowell traveled to Green County, Kentucky and diagnosed a 22-pound ovarian tumor. He was interested in performing an experimental abdominal surgery that might save her life, but he warned her that so far the surgery had never been performed successfully.  Knowing that her condition was fatal, Crawford agreed to allow Dr. McDowell to operate on her.

Dr McDowell's Surgery Tools

It was a harsh December day when she set out on horseback from south of Greensburg to Danville, Kentucky, a journey of 60 miles. McDowell had refused to do the surgery anywhere but at his home where he had the necessary assistance and equipment available.

The operation took place on Christmas Day in McDowell’s home. (McDowell hoped the church music and bells would diminish the sounds of Jane's agony.) Jane was strapped down to a table and given an oral dose of opium before being cut open. (Anesthesia did not exist yet.) Jane recited the Psalms while the operation took place. During the 25 minute procedure, McDowell removed a twenty-two pound tumor in two sections. This was the first successful abdominal surgery, and the first successful removal of an ovarian tumor, in the world!

Crawford’s recovery was uneventful. She returned home at the end of January 1810. A few months later, the Crawford’s’ sold their land in Kentucky and moved to Indiana. 

McDowell became famous as the pioneer of abdominal surgical techniques. He performed the same operation on two more women within the next few years and published his report “Three Cases of Extirpation of Diseased Ovaria” in 1817.  He continued practicing medicine until his death, ironically from an apparent appendicitis, on June 25, 1830.  His home in Danville, where the operation took place, is now a museum and National Historic Landmark.

Jane's Grave

Jane Todd Crawford died in 1842, at the age of 78, at her son’s home in Graysville, Indiana. She is buried in the Johnson Cemetery, near Graysville, Indiana in Sullivan County.  In 1871, the Women’s Auxiliary to the Southern Medical Association dedicated a stone for her grave.  In 1940, the American Hospital Association placed a granite monument near her grave.

Not only did Jane Todd Crawford make history as the first woman to survive ovarian surgery, she gave thousands of women hope concerning a disease that is slow, cruel, and still difficult to survive.

I am currently working on a full-length play about Jane’s life. Keep apprised of how the work is going on Facebook at A Grave Interest’s page.

~ Joy

My first book, The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide, will be out in bookstores nationwide the end of September. To order an advanced copy, visit Family Tree.

Cemeteries Worth the Visit - Bellevue Cemetery, Danville, Kentucky

Bellevue Cemetery Map

Danville Historic District

Bellevue Cemetery was founded in 1847 as the Danville Cemetery. Robert Montgomery and William Speed purchased the first four acres from the Philip Yeiser farm.  The cemetery now consists of 29 acres near the historic district of downtown Danville, Kentucky 

A Lawn Park style Cemetery

Bellevue Cemetery

Designed as a Victorian Lawn Park style cemetery, Bellevue is made up of tree-lined paths and pastoral vistas. Upon entering the cemetery from North First Street, an allee of red oaks acts as a divide between the eastern and western sections of the cemetery. 

The eastern section of the cemetery contains newer graves; the western section is where you will find the older monuments and statues.  This is the section that still maintains the look of the Lawn Park cemetery from the 19^th century.

The Danville Cemetery had a name change in 1897 and became Bellevue Cemetery The City of Danville took over management of the cemetery in 1931.

McDowell's Monument

McDowell Family Stone

Although not buried in the cemetery, Danville doctor, Ephraim McDowell has family buried here.  McDowell is buried at McDowell Park in the center of town, near the Old First Presbyterian Church. 

Ephraim McDowell

 McDowell was a doctor and world renowned surgical pioneer.  On Christmas Day, 1809, he performed the first ovarian surgery on Jane Todd Crawford, a Kentucky resident.  An ovarian tumor weighing over twenty pounds had to be cut into several pieces to be lifted out.  Crawford was awake for the procedure, since anesthetic was not yet invented.  Jane Crawford survived the operation and went on to live another 33 years.  She died at the age of 79.  McDowell became famous as the pioneer of abdominal surgical techniques. He performed the same operation on two more women.  He published his report “Three Cases of Extirpation of Diseased Ovaria” in 1817.  Ephraim McDowell died in 1830.

Governor William Owsley

Brigadier General Jeremiah Boyle

There are several U.S. Congressmen, two Civil War Union Generals; Boyle County native Jeremiah Tilford Boyle and Danville native, Speed Fry, along with Kentucky Governor William Owsley buried here.

Bellevue is also the site of a National Cemetery.  At the start of the Civil War, the federal government set aside 18 cemetery lots in the Danville City Cemetery.  Made up of less than half an acre, the section was laid out in a rectangle with all four corners marked with U.S. corner posts. 

A total of 394 Union soldiers were buried here, most of them had died at Civil War hospitals scattered throughout Danville.  A Confederate lot set up just east of the National Cemetery has 66 interments.   In 1868, the Danville National Cemetery was established.  Burials continued in the National Cemetery until 1952. In 1998 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Bellevue Cemetery does not have a web page, Facebook page or Twitter account.  For information about the cemetery, contact Josh Morgan, Assistant City Engineer at (859) 238-1206.  The cemetery is located at 377 North First Street in Danville, and is open daily from dawn to dusk.

Although finding information on Bellevue Cemetery is somewhat difficult, the cemetery itself is a treasure.  Plan on spending an afternoon wandering among the older stones and mature trees of this gorgeous old Civil War era cemetery.  The statues and stones are outstanding!

~ Joy