Dublin Core
Description
Katharine Johnson Jackson, daughter of former Massachusetts senator and representative Hon. Emerson Johnson, was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on April 7, 1841. Following periods of public school and home school instruction, she entered a prestigious school in Hopedale, Massachusetts, at age sixteen. Katharine subsequently completed her high school studies at a school in Hartford, Connecticut, where she later taught. To further her education, she studied stenography and was likely one of its first woman practitioners.
In 1861, Katharine, also referred to as Kate, began her lifelong career at Our Home on the Hillside, as private secretary to Dr. James C. Jackson, director of the Jackson Sanatorium. Established in 1858, the Jackson Sanatorium was founded on two basic principles: to restore sick people to health, and to teach the philosophy of health by right living. While employed at the sanatorium in Dansville, New York, she met and later married James H. Jackson, the son of Dr. James C. Jackson. They had one child, James Arthur Jackson, who was born a few years after their 1864 marriage. During these years Katharine and James attended medical school. She attended The Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary where she graduated as valedictorian of her class. James completed his medical school at Bellevue.
Following her graduation, Katharine worked as a physician and managing staff member at The Jackson Sanatorium where she helped to make the home a haven of rest for the sick and suffering. Dr. Kate Jackson was intensely devoted to helping people both physically and spiritually. While acutely aware and interested in contemporary women's issues, the rigorous nature of her professional life prevented her from being as active in social causes as she would have liked. Kate was noted to be a persuasive and informative speaker who educated the staff and patients of the sanatorium regarding health and other practical subjects. The physical and spiritual care Dr. Jackson gave to her patients, and the education she provided to enable patients to care for themselves, established her as an inspiration among nineteenth-century women.
She passed away on March 4, 1921, and was buried in Dansville's Green Mount Cemetery.