Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes

Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes (November 22, 1827 – January 19, 1913) was an American nurse and civic leader. She was a Confederate nurse during the American Civil War, volunteering at Wayside Hospital and the Confederate Military Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. After the war, Wilkes served on the Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions of the Episcopal Church and as president of the Women's Aid Society of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. In 1867, she co-founded St. Peter's Hospital, the first civilian hospital in North Carolina. Like other hospitals in segregated North Carolina, St. Peter's didn't admit Black people. In 1892, she opened Good Samaritan Hospital, the first hospital for African-Americans in North Carolina.

Early life Wilkes was born Jane Renwick Smedburg on November 22, 1827, in New York City to Carl Gustav Smedburg, a wealthy Swedish merchant, and Isabelle Renwick Smedberg, of English and Scottish parentage. She was the seventh of thirteen children. Her family accumulated a large fortune through her father's shipping business. Wilkes and the other women volunteers formed the Ladies Hospital Association to provide volunteer nurses at the Confederate hospitals. Good Samaritan Hospital opened later that year, and opened a nursing school for Black women in 1902.

She was active in church societies and charities, including the Episcopal Churchwomen and the Woman's Auxiliary to the Board of Missions of the Episcopal Church, serving as the executive secretary of the latter's chapter in the North Carolina Diocese from 1882 to 1895. In 1906, she was appointed as "Permanent President" of the organization, having previously served as president from 1904, and continued in the role until 1909. Her husband was the son of her mother's sister, Jane Jeffrey Renwick Wilkes. She and her husband first lived near St. Catharine's Mill, in Mecklenburg County, until the 1870s, when they moved to West Trade Street in Charlotte. A historical marker for Good Samaritan Hospital mentioning Wilkes and her contributions was also erected in Charlotte.