Woolsey Sisters of New York: A Family's Involvement in the Civil War and a New Profession (1860-1900)

The three Woolsey Sisters, Abby, Jane, & Georgeanna, were pioneers in the development of nursing service & education after the Civil War. In her research, author Anne L. Austin discovered that nursing was but one of the fields of social welfare in which these remarkable women were leaders. Because the private lives of such pioneers have an important relation to their public activities, Austin felt that the story would best be told in the family setting. Generations of the Woolsey family & its collateral branches were notable in the U.S. beginning in the 17th century. This narrative is concerned primarily with Abby, Jane, & Georgeanna, three of the eight children of Charles William & Jane Eliza (Newton) Woolsey, who lived in N.Y. before, during, & after the Civil War. Throughout the war, under the auspices of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, these three women did important work for the Union on behalf of the wounded. Later, in civil life, they became leaders in promoting programs of social welfare, nursing education, & hospital nursing service, & one of them was a pioneer in the education of Negroes. Illus.