~ ~ ~
Bill Hand: Caleb Bradham's sister was America's first RN
By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff
Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 18:31 PM.
So, while New Bern's own Caleb Bradham was busy inventing Pepsi-Cola, it turns out his sister was making some history herself.
(Caleb) a pharmacist, and even his famous invention was medical: He believed it to be an aid to digestion.
So it should come as no surprise that his sister should also make her mark in the medical profession.
Her name was Josephine Bradham Burton. She was a nurse, which may not seem amazing since there have been nurses haunting about just about as long as men have been getting themselves chopped up in wars.
But in March 1903, the North Carolina State Nurse Association convinced the boys in Raleigh to pass a registration act — the first state in the nation to do so.
To quote the Fall 2012 American Association of the History of Nursing Bulletin: "The law allowed nurses to place their names in a county registry of trained nurses by appearing before the Clerk of Court in the county in which they wished to practice after presenting their diploma from a reputable training school. The Clerk of Court then issued the nurse a Certificate of Registration and entered her name in the Nurses Registry kept in each county courthouse."
The new law kicked in on June 5, 1903. Josephine. She married Joel Burton of Duplin County on July 3, 1894, when she was just 19. In 1899, she went to a highly reputed nursing school in Philadelphia. She told the folks at school that her lone living relative was her brother, Dr. C.D. Bradham of New Bern.
According to nursing historian Phoebe Pollitt, her (Josephine) marriage was apparently on the rocks and she went to New Bern to live with Caleb. Knowing about the registration law, she marched herself down to the clerk of courts office on June 4, 1903, one day before the law officially went into effect.
She apparently never learned that this made her the first registered nurse in America.
In fact, until recently, the honored title of "first registered nurse" was given to Mary Rose Batterham of Buncombe County, who registered herself on June 5. It wasn't until a decade after her death that the truth was sorted out.
Josephine had surgery in New York City in 1917 and died from complications. She is buried in the family plot at Cedar Grove under her maiden name of Bradham.
Despite her historic registration, there's no evidence as to whether she ever really practiced her vocation.
Bio is excerpts of an article in the Sun Journal Staff Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The above Sun Journal article was posted by Richard Jordan.
~ ~ ~
"The First Registered Nurse In The United States: Josephine (Bradham) Burton"
By: Phoebe Pollitt, PhD, RN (2012).
https://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/biographies/josephine-burton-bradham
~ ~ ~
More info about her and her family is available via the link below.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVS8-D49
~ ~ ~
Any additional info is greatly appreciated.
Bill Hand: Caleb Bradham's sister was America's first RN
By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff
Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 18:31 PM.
So, while New Bern's own Caleb Bradham was busy inventing Pepsi-Cola, it turns out his sister was making some history herself.
(Caleb) a pharmacist, and even his famous invention was medical: He believed it to be an aid to digestion.
So it should come as no surprise that his sister should also make her mark in the medical profession.
Her name was Josephine Bradham Burton. She was a nurse, which may not seem amazing since there have been nurses haunting about just about as long as men have been getting themselves chopped up in wars.
But in March 1903, the North Carolina State Nurse Association convinced the boys in Raleigh to pass a registration act — the first state in the nation to do so.
To quote the Fall 2012 American Association of the History of Nursing Bulletin: "The law allowed nurses to place their names in a county registry of trained nurses by appearing before the Clerk of Court in the county in which they wished to practice after presenting their diploma from a reputable training school. The Clerk of Court then issued the nurse a Certificate of Registration and entered her name in the Nurses Registry kept in each county courthouse."
The new law kicked in on June 5, 1903. Josephine. She married Joel Burton of Duplin County on July 3, 1894, when she was just 19. In 1899, she went to a highly reputed nursing school in Philadelphia. She told the folks at school that her lone living relative was her brother, Dr. C.D. Bradham of New Bern.
According to nursing historian Phoebe Pollitt, her (Josephine) marriage was apparently on the rocks and she went to New Bern to live with Caleb. Knowing about the registration law, she marched herself down to the clerk of courts office on June 4, 1903, one day before the law officially went into effect.
She apparently never learned that this made her the first registered nurse in America.
In fact, until recently, the honored title of "first registered nurse" was given to Mary Rose Batterham of Buncombe County, who registered herself on June 5. It wasn't until a decade after her death that the truth was sorted out.
Josephine had surgery in New York City in 1917 and died from complications. She is buried in the family plot at Cedar Grove under her maiden name of Bradham.
Despite her historic registration, there's no evidence as to whether she ever really practiced her vocation.
Bio is excerpts of an article in the Sun Journal Staff Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The above Sun Journal article was posted by Richard Jordan.
~ ~ ~
"The First Registered Nurse In The United States: Josephine (Bradham) Burton"
By: Phoebe Pollitt, PhD, RN (2012).
https://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/biographies/josephine-burton-bradham
~ ~ ~
More info about her and her family is available via the link below.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVS8-D49
~ ~ ~
Any additional info is greatly appreciated.
~ ~ ~
Bill Hand: Caleb Bradham's sister was America's first RN
By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff
Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 18:31 PM.
So, while New Bern's own Caleb Bradham was busy inventing Pepsi-Cola, it turns out his sister was making some history herself.
(Caleb) a pharmacist, and even his famous invention was medical: He believed it to be an aid to digestion.
So it should come as no surprise that his sister should also make her mark in the medical profession.
Her name was Josephine Bradham Burton. She was a nurse, which may not seem amazing since there have been nurses haunting about just about as long as men have been getting themselves chopped up in wars.
But in March 1903, the North Carolina State Nurse Association convinced the boys in Raleigh to pass a registration act — the first state in the nation to do so.
To quote the Fall 2012 American Association of the History of Nursing Bulletin: "The law allowed nurses to place their names in a county registry of trained nurses by appearing before the Clerk of Court in the county in which they wished to practice after presenting their diploma from a reputable training school. The Clerk of Court then issued the nurse a Certificate of Registration and entered her name in the Nurses Registry kept in each county courthouse."
The new law kicked in on June 5, 1903. Josephine. She married Joel Burton of Duplin County on July 3, 1894, when she was just 19. In 1899, she went to a highly reputed nursing school in Philadelphia. She told the folks at school that her lone living relative was her brother, Dr. C.D. Bradham of New Bern.
According to nursing historian Phoebe Pollitt, her (Josephine) marriage was apparently on the rocks and she went to New Bern to live with Caleb. Knowing about the registration law, she marched herself down to the clerk of courts office on June 4, 1903, one day before the law officially went into effect.
She apparently never learned that this made her the first registered nurse in America.
In fact, until recently, the honored title of "first registered nurse" was given to Mary Rose Batterham of Buncombe County, who registered herself on June 5. It wasn't until a decade after her death that the truth was sorted out.
Josephine had surgery in New York City in 1917 and died from complications. She is buried in the family plot at Cedar Grove under her maiden name of Bradham.
Despite her historic registration, there's no evidence as to whether she ever really practiced her vocation.
Bio is excerpts of an article in the Sun Journal Staff Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The above Sun Journal article was posted by Richard Jordan.
~ ~ ~
"The First Registered Nurse In The United States: Josephine (Bradham) Burton"
By: Phoebe Pollitt, PhD, RN (2012).
https://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/biographies/josephine-burton-bradham
~ ~ ~
More info about her and her family is available via the link below.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVS8-D49
~ ~ ~
Any additional info is greatly appreciated.
Bill Hand: Caleb Bradham's sister was America's first RN
By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff
Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 18:31 PM.
So, while New Bern's own Caleb Bradham was busy inventing Pepsi-Cola, it turns out his sister was making some history herself.
(Caleb) a pharmacist, and even his famous invention was medical: He believed it to be an aid to digestion.
So it should come as no surprise that his sister should also make her mark in the medical profession.
Her name was Josephine Bradham Burton. She was a nurse, which may not seem amazing since there have been nurses haunting about just about as long as men have been getting themselves chopped up in wars.
But in March 1903, the North Carolina State Nurse Association convinced the boys in Raleigh to pass a registration act — the first state in the nation to do so.
To quote the Fall 2012 American Association of the History of Nursing Bulletin: "The law allowed nurses to place their names in a county registry of trained nurses by appearing before the Clerk of Court in the county in which they wished to practice after presenting their diploma from a reputable training school. The Clerk of Court then issued the nurse a Certificate of Registration and entered her name in the Nurses Registry kept in each county courthouse."
The new law kicked in on June 5, 1903. Josephine. She married Joel Burton of Duplin County on July 3, 1894, when she was just 19. In 1899, she went to a highly reputed nursing school in Philadelphia. She told the folks at school that her lone living relative was her brother, Dr. C.D. Bradham of New Bern.
According to nursing historian Phoebe Pollitt, her (Josephine) marriage was apparently on the rocks and she went to New Bern to live with Caleb. Knowing about the registration law, she marched herself down to the clerk of courts office on June 4, 1903, one day before the law officially went into effect.
She apparently never learned that this made her the first registered nurse in America.
In fact, until recently, the honored title of "first registered nurse" was given to Mary Rose Batterham of Buncombe County, who registered herself on June 5. It wasn't until a decade after her death that the truth was sorted out.
Josephine had surgery in New York City in 1917 and died from complications. She is buried in the family plot at Cedar Grove under her maiden name of Bradham.
Despite her historic registration, there's no evidence as to whether she ever really practiced her vocation.
Bio is excerpts of an article in the Sun Journal Staff Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The above Sun Journal article was posted by Richard Jordan.
~ ~ ~
"The First Registered Nurse In The United States: Josephine (Bradham) Burton"
By: Phoebe Pollitt, PhD, RN (2012).
https://nursinghistory.appstate.edu/biographies/josephine-burton-bradham
~ ~ ~
More info about her and her family is available via the link below.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVS8-D49
~ ~ ~
Any additional info is greatly appreciated.
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