Born: 31 December 1834, United States
Died: 8 December 1891
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mary Jane Safford-Blake
The following is republished with permission from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
Mary Jane Safford (1834-1891), known as the “Cairo Angel,” was a nurse during the Civil War and later a physician and advocate for women’s health and suffrage. She taught at the BU School of Medicine.
Born in Vermont, Safford grew up in Illinois and worked as a schoolteacher as a young woman. At the outbreak of the Civil War, she was living in Cairo, Illinois, which became the site of a camp for volunteer troops. She frequently visited the camp to care for the sick, having won the trust of officials who had initially opposed her presence there. In recognition of her dedication, she was nicknamed “Cairo Angel.” Safford later served on the hospital ship Hazel Dell. Exhausted from the experience, she embarked on a “convalescent tour” in Europe during which she decided to prepare to become a physician. She enrolled at the New York Medical College for Women and studied in Europe as well. Reportedly, she was the first woman to perform an ovariotomy. She went into private practice in Chicago and moved to Boston after she married James Blake in 1872. Thereafter she used the last name Safford-Blake. In Boston, she taught at Boston University School of Medicine, specializing in women’s health. In addition, Safford-Blake served on the Boston School Committee and became involved in women’s suffrage. When her marriage ended in 1880, she moved to Florida, where she became one of the first women physicians in the state.