Jane Todd Crawford
Jane Todd, pioneer heroine of abdominal surgery, was born 12-23-1763 just west of here across Whistle Creek near Todd’s Mill. She married Thomas Crawford in 1794. In 1809 she rode 60 Mi. on horseback to the home of Dr. Ephraim McDowell in Danville, Kentucky., where she underwent the worlds first ovariotomy. The ordeal lasted 25-min., without anesthesia. She recovered, lived 32 more years and died near Graysville, Indiana. The restored McDowell home is a surgical shrine.
Erected 1974 by the Woman's Aux. to the So. Med. Assn.
Marker is at the intersection of West Midland Trail (U.S. 60) and Beatty Hollow (Virginia Route 669), on the right when traveling west on West Midland Trail.
Courtesy hmdb.org
