​The Audacity of Dr. F. Rachel Harris Reid

By Sheila K. Harris

INTRODUCTION: Late last fall a sweet woman came into our shop, Millie McKeever's Vintage & Home Decor. She was interested in a small vintage physician bag we had for sale. It was a smaller size so we assumed it most likely belonged to a woman in approximately 1894. I visited with the customer, Sheila Harris, who eventually purchased the bag...and told me all about her great aunt Dr. F. Rachel Harris Reid, who had lived most of her life in this part of the Midwest. She had an intriguing life, being one of the first 12 female physicians in the United States in the late 1800's. Dr. Reid felt the Midwest would be more accepting of a female physician and the demand was greater. Her accomplishments include serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, teaching freed slaves of all ages, lecturing on women's health crossing the country by covered wagon, as she rose above tragedy, time and again, to begin again. You'll be intrigued to find out more about this interesting pioneer woman of faith and medicine. We will be carrying the book written about her by Sheila in 2024. But for now...here's a peek into the life of the audacious Dr. F. Rachel Harris Reid. (Shelly)  
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Sheild Harris, great niece of Dr. Reid's holding the small physician bag she purchased at Millie McKeever's Vintage & Home Decor.

​Retrieving lost stories of an ancestor can shed a brighter light on our own path in life. I found my great grand aunt Fidelia Rachel Harris, a leaf upon our family tree, over shadowed by men who had been better documented long ago. Her light began to spread as I explored a multitude of questions and clues, seeds on the prairie wind, where she lived for 29 years of her very active life. Born in 1826, Fidelia was raised in a devout family of farmers and teachers on the eastern shore of Lake Erie near the Canadian border. It was an area where immigrants and runaway slaves passed through on their journeys, seeking food and clothing provided by many area families. Her people lived their faith - to help who you can where you are for as long as you can - teaching compassion and a sense of life as mission. Having suffered a scalding burn as a young child, Fidelia grew up with the experience of painful disfigurement of her neck. Precocious enough to read physiology books at the age of 12 she decided to become a healer. She had to have a deep faith and strong belief to become what she wanted, especially when there was no path to becoming a woman doctor at that time. She was one of the first 12 women doctors to graduate from a medical college in the US.

Dr. F. Rachel also became a healer in other ways: founding a mission school and teaching former slaves; adopting children of relatives who passed away and giving them a good home; providing talks to women on family health and childcare; supporting the WCTU for black women as well as white; volunteering to organize and serve in the US Sanitary Commission to train nurses for the Florence Nightengale Circle; and to serve on the Wisconsin Commission for Universal Suffrage. As a physician she was a strong advocate for women’s reform clothing and elimination of corsets. Fidelia became a pastor’s wife when she married Hiram A. Reid. Her strong faith carried her during many difficult seasons on the prairie. She never had children of her own, but she was instrumental in raising relatives children who passed away.
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Minister Reid and wife, Dr. F. Rachel, going to church on their wheels carrying their orphaned grandchildren Verna and Helen Douglas.
For all she did, as I wrote her book, I longed to hear her own words. The words at the heart of her faith and belief in all that she accomplished. I learned more about her passion and discovered her humor that must have upheld her during the tragedies her life brought. Her lifetime spanned the 19th century (1826 – 1903) and the breadth of this continent, so I believed eventually I would find letters, poems, or articles with more information about Dr. F Rachel. Thanks to online connectivity others inspired by her life have shared discoveries with me that I am sharing in the final book, Under A Wider Sky is  due out later in 2024.

​Recently I found myself in Walnut, Iowa entering a  lovely shop, Millie McKeever’s Home Decor. Beneath the blue prairie sky that bright autumn day, I knew Dr. Rachel would have felt right at home. So it did not surprise me that I found my treasure – an 1894 vintage physician’s bag that looked just like what she might have carried in her day. As Shelly wrote up the sale, I began to tell her about this ordinary woman, in extraordinary times, and the amazing things she did. The doctor’s bag now enjoys pride of place in my home. Soon there will soon be copies of the book, Audacious Legacy; the Life of Dr. F. Rachel Harris Reid, available for sale at Millie McKeever’s Home Decor in Walnut. I hope you will stop in and take a look. It’s a treasure. There's so much we can learn today...from the women of yesterday who traveled under these prairie skies long before us. 
Author Sheila K. Harris
Sheila K. Harris has an interest in the journey of her great grand aunt, Dr. F. Rachel Harris Reid. Finding out her extraordinary journey made Sheila curious to learn more about this remarkable woman who lived on the prairies of the Midwest. She has done more research and will be following up with a second book soon.