Mary A. Cooke Thompson
[3] A year later, after moving to New Jersey and remaining in charge of taking care of her brother and sisters, Mary started selling wooden novelty items handmade by her father on the streets of Newark, helping with the income of her household.
[2] Based on Thompson's diary, Ward states that she had a difficult domestic relationship with her husband, and she feared that her struggles with mental health would limit her work.
[5] For that reason, Mary Anna Cooke Thompson didn't have any degree, and, according to Ward (2012), she began her medical studies a year after her marriage, in 1849.
[3] Mary Anna Cooke Thompson practiced medicine in Portland for more than 40 years and was able to manage her career as a physician while raising her family, which represented a great achievement and a model of success for women.
[1] Despite the absence of a formal degree that allowed her to be considered a "regular doctor", Mary Thompson was deeply respected and Abigail Scott Duniway said that she was making "a permanent impression on the medical profession of Oregon, in pioneer days, by opening the way for other women physicians of the state, but few of whom realize the importance of her work as a path-breaker".
[3] According to Ward, apart from being an advocate for human rights, Mary Thompson also toured the Pacific North-West in the fall of 1871, helping organize the Multnomah County Woman Suffrage Association at Portland's Oro Fino Hall.
[9] According to Ward (2012), who found her information in the archives of The New Northwest, Duniway's newspaper, Thompson was always a central figure through all of Oregon's suffrage campaigns, until the victory in 1912.
[3] Although she was a truly admired pioneer in Portland, she never reached the celebrity status of her colleague Duniway, distinguished then (and now) as Oregon's "Mother of Equal Suffrage".
On the contrary, Abigail Scott Duniway thought that it would not help the women's suffrage movement but rather be an obstacle, driving away male voters.
[17][18][19] In 1905, Mary Anna Cooke Thompson went to the 37th Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was held in Portland, Oregon, in the First Congregational Church, from June 28 to July 5, 1905.
[20] Indeed, she was also in favor of political and economic change[1] and supported the progressive vision of Henry George, an American journalist and economist advocating for the single tax.
[21] In her later years, was known, thanks to her journal and personal introspective passages, that she had a difficult domestic relationship with her husband and struggles with mental health that she feared would limit her work.
Ward (2012) cites Mary Anna Cooke Thompson's journal: "The same terrible depression comes over me from this letter that affected me before I left home" and "may the loved ones who watch over me guide and direct me into the right paths, and may my judgement be quickened that I may accomplish the work that is for me to do".
[3] Thompson's work for equal rights was grounded in her belief in the moral superiority of women, paired with faith in the ballot as an essential and powerful weapon to stop corruption.
[22] She believed that the influence of women would purify the laws of the land and it would effectively address the social and economic issues that the nation faced.
