Life and Times of Dr. Ephraim McDowell | Dr. Joan Cashin

Travel across Kentucky today and one can easily find traces of the prominent McDowell family, who played an outsized role in the founding of Kentucky. Less known, however, is Dr. Ephraim McDowell. He married the oldest daughter of Governor Isaac Shelby, and in 1809, performed what is believed to be the first-known removal of an ovarian tumor. A man of contradictions, McDowell enslaved numerous people throughout his life, even as he saved the lives of several African American women. Join us today for a discussion with a former KHS research fellow who explores McDowell’s groundbreaking medical career. Dr. Joan Cashin is a professor of history at the Ohio State University. She earned her PhD from Harvard University. She has published an array of books, including A Family Venture; Men and Women on the Southern Frontier (1991); First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War (2006); and War Stuff: The Struggle for Human and Environmental Resources in the American Civil War (2018). In Fall 2018, Dr. Cashin received a fellowship from the Kentucky Historical Society. In 2024, she published “Doctor Ephraim McDowell and the Human Body: Surgery, Community, Gender, and Race in the Early Republic” for a special medical issue of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Kentucky Chronicles is inspired by the work of researchers worldwide who have contributed to the scholarly journal, The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, in publication since 1903. https://history.ky.gov/explore/catalog-research-tools/register-of-the-kentucky-historical-society Hosted by Dr. Allen A. Fletcher, associate editor of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society and coordinator of our Research Fellows program, which brings in researchers from across the world to conduct research in the rich archival holdings of the Kentucky Historical Society. https://history.ky.gov/khs-for-me/for-researchers/research-fellowships Kentucky Chronicles is presented by the Kentucky Historical Society, with support from the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation. https://history.ky.gov/about/khs-foundation This episode was recorded and produced by Gregory Hardison, with support and guidance from Dr. Stephanie Lang. Our theme music, “Modern Documentary,” was created by Mood Mode and is used courtesy of Pixabay. To learn more about our publication of The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, or to learn more about our Research Fellows program, please visit our website: https://history.ky.gov/ https://history.ky.gov/khs-podcasts