Mercy B. Jackson

Mercy Ruggles Bisbee Jackson (17 September 180213 December 1877) was an American medical doctor. She was one of the first women to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree, specifically in obstetrics and gynecology.

Domestic life Mercy Ruggles was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts on September 17, 1802, to Constant Ruggles, Esq. and his wife. Ruggles was able to attend school, and at the age of 17 she graduated from a private school in Hardwick. Shortly after her graduation, she moved to Plainfield to take up a temporary teaching job. She then returned to Hardwick and married her first husband Reverend John Bisbee in 1823. Jackson and Bisbee had three children together, one of whom died in infancy from scarlet fever, and another dying of pneumonia in 1832. Jackson was left a widow in 1829 when Bisbee died unexpectedly from pneumonia.

At this time, she opened a school for young ladies, giving them a very basic education. She then met her second husband Capt. Daniel Jackson who had four children from a previous marriage. The two married in 1833 and moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts. The couple had eight children together, only four of whom survived.

In 1860, at the age of 58, Jackson earned the Doctor of Medicine degree at Boston's New England Female Medical College (1860) now known as Boston University School of Medicine.

Career Jackson was heavily involved in American homeopathy in the 19th century, and attended several conventions as a speaker and presenter. In 1861 she applied to join the American Institute of Homeopathy, but was rejected as she was not a man; she was finally admitted in 1871.

She specialized in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with a heavy focus on uterine hemorrhaging. For uterine hemorrhaging, the most common treatment was putting ice on it and hoping that the bleeding would stop.