Mary Holloway Wilhite

Mary Holloway Wilhite (, Holloway; February 3, 1831 – February 8, 1892) was a 19th-century American physician and philanthropist. She was the first female medical graduate from Indiana, as well as the first female practitioner in the state. Wilhite contributed regularly to the local newspapers.

Early life and education Mary Mitchell Holloway was born near Crawfordsville, Indiana, February 3, 1831. Her father, Washington Holloway, a cabinet-maker, was a native of Kentucky and a Crawfordsville pioneer. He served as Sergeant-at-arms of the Indiana House of Representatives. Her mother was Elizabeth King, of Virginia.

At the age of fifteen, Wilhite was confirmed in the Christian church. When she was seventeen, her mother died. Wilhite was an advocate of woman's rights, even in childhood. In 1850, still a teenager she sold subscriptions for the first woman's rights paper published in the United States, the Woman's Advocate, Three of their children died in infancy. She died at her home in Crawfordsville, February 8, 1892, from congestion of the lungs, after contracting pneumonia during a house call with a patient. Her husband, two sons, and two daughters survived her. Her son Stanton was named after Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was honored in 2020 in a virtual celebration of the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th amendment, both for her work as a suffragette and contributions to local philanthropy efforts.