History Hotdish Ep. 37 - Dr. Fannie Dunn Quain

Kate Waldera talks to Ann Vadnie about Dr. Fannie Dunn Quain.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to History Hot Dish, a casual conversation about the
historic people and events that give Bismarket's unique flavor. History
Hot Dish is brought to you by the Bismarck Historical Society,
a local nonprofit whose mission is to learn, preserve, and
promote the history of Bismarck. Sit back, turn up the
volume and enjoy another helping of history Hot Dish.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another episode of History Hot Dish. I'm your
host Kate Walderra, a member of the Bismarck Historical Society
Board of Directors. Today our guest is Anne Vadney, a
fellow member of the board of Directors and a longtime
school teacher of Bismarck. Welcome back and for another helping
of History Hotish. And for the listeners, can you tell

(00:49):
us a bit about yourself, your background, and why you're
so interested in Bismarck's rich history.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I grew up in Bismarck. I went to read school
at Wilmore and Junior High at Hughes Junior High. Then
I graduated in the class in nineteen sixty nine from
Bismock High School. After graduating from high school, I attended
the College of Saint Catherine and Saint Paul, graduating in
nineteen seventy three. In nineteen seventy five, after finishing my

(01:19):
master's degree, I began teaching with the Bismarck Public Schools
and I spent thirty three years of my time teaching
at Walkter Middle School, which started as a junior high.
I retired from Bismarck Public Schools in two thousand and eight,
and I was really looking for something to do in
the way of organizations where I could volunteer, and I

(01:41):
was invited to join the board of directors for the
Bismock Historical Society. And I really believe that there was
a lot of things yet to be told about the
city of Bismarck.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well. Doctor Fannie Dunquain was the first North Dakota woman
to ever earn a doctor Doctor of Medicine degree, and
she was born in Bismarck. Can you share some facts
about her time growing up in our area?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yes, Fannie Dunn was actually what was referred to as
a first white child, born in the small village of Bismarck,
which was da Quota Territory in eighteen seventy four. Her father,
John Dunn, was a pharmacist and he had opened the
first drug store in North Dakota. He also went on

(02:30):
to be the mayor of Bismarck in eighteen eighty four,
and he was one of really Connie's first commissioners. Interestingly enough,
Fanny's mother, Christina, owned the first sewing machine and Bismarck
and was an accomplished dressmaker and she all also made
these beautiful or nate hats. Fanny grew up in a

(02:53):
house on Sixth Street, and her mom and dad were
very entertaining and they would have a lot of very
important people from politicians to military leaders that would come
to visit their hosts. Kind of as a result of that,
Fanny developed an interest in the history and politics of

(03:15):
Dakota Territory and later North Dkota. Fanny attended what was
called the north Wards School, which was a public school
where Willmore is right now, and at that time it
held all grade levels. Fanny graduated from Bismarchai class of

(03:35):
eighteen ninety three within that north Ward School.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
And then after high school, where did she choose to
continue her education? Did she stay in Bismarck, did she leave?
She stayed here for a time.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Talking to her parents about what she should do, but
she made a decision she wanted to go into teaching,
so she went to what was called the State Normal
School in Saint Claude, Minnesota. Of course, that later became
Saint Claude State Teachers College and now it's known as
Saint Claude State University. Well interesting, I didn't realize that

(04:13):
she'd had a teaching degree, But how did she end
up becoming a doctor? She was kind of at odds
with her own thinking. Sometimes. She really had wanted to
become an educator and her primary goal was to be
a teacher. However, she realized that she was going along

(04:36):
in her teaching that she really wanted to pursue a
degree as a medical physician. Now she knew that would
be tough because most women of her time were not
encouraged to go to medical school, and it was a
financial difficulty too. Even though Fanny's parents both had good careers,

(04:59):
they were not to help with her expenses. But in
her mind, Fanny really wanted to go to medical school,
so she was determined, and in order to pay for
on tuition, she taught school, She did hostkeeping, and she
worked as a bookkeeper. So eventually through hard work and persistence,

(05:20):
she graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School at
Anne Herber, Michigan in eighteen ninety eight. From there, she
went on to do an inter internship at Northwestern College
in Minneapolis. After that, she had a hankering to come
home and return to North Dakota.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
So what was Fannie's career life like in her earliest
days when she came back to North Dakota.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Because there were not many doctors around, she often was
working across the state and would travel long distances and
of course in quote, I have to brave the brutal
weather in order to get to her patients. There's actually
two prehistoric photos showing Fannie Duncoyn and how she got

(06:12):
her own to visit her patients. And one of the
photos that shows her riding her horse, and then the
other she is getting ready to hop onto her bicycle
to ride through Bismarck.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
And I remember seeing those two pictures when I was
going through some other things when I was still working
in Digital Horizons, the Photographic History Database, and I remember
seeing her on her horse, and I also remember her
with her bicycle. So she was quite the modern woman

(06:45):
for the time. And I've also heard that she remained
active in her supported education even though she switched her
focus from that to medicine. And I was surprised to
learn that she had been elected the Burley County Superintendent
of Schools in eighteen ninety eight and then again in
nineteen hundred. So now, can you tell me a little

(07:07):
bit how she met her future husband, who was also
a doctor.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Well, Fannie Dunn Quain met her future husband, doctor Eric Quain,
in an operating room at Bismock Saint Alexis Hospital. At
that time, the hospital was located in the original Lamborne
Hotel building on the northwest corner of Sixth and Maine.

(07:32):
The couple eventually married in nineteen oh three and they
had two children, a son named Beale and a daughter, Marian.
The Quain family lived in a house at the corner
of sixth Street and Avenue A.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
And I think that was the house that got moved
when on Veterans Memorial Public Library got built, correct, And
if I remember right, did that house get moved to?
I think like the twenty one hundred block of Rosser, correct,
And it's an apartment house that is.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
That's thanks to Amyen and Emily Sacrason's historic search through
Bismarck to try to find the house.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Ah. Yes, and it's a beautiful big house. You can
almost imagine what it would have been like.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, way too many doors now, Yes, absolutely well.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
And getting back to our interview here, I'm a reminder
for our guests who have just joined us that you're
listening to History Hot Dish on Radio Access one oh
two point five FM, and I'm your host, Kate Walderra
And today our guest is Anne Vatney, a fellow member
of the Bismarck Historical Society Board of Directors. Our topic

(08:47):
today is doctor Fannie Dunquain, a very influential woman in
Bismarck's early years. You stated earlier on her practice that
doctor Fanny Quaine was to travel very long distances to
treat her patients. Can you tell me about a particular

(09:07):
event that happened in mid April of nineteen oh five
and it took her fifty seven miles north to Underwood
to meet a patient coming from McLean County.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes, as was the case in those days, once a
puririe fire started, it would really be very devastating, and
a huge puririe fire had gone across the farm of
a man named Billy Flynn. Flynn had received severe burns
as he tried to save his horses and free them

(09:39):
from their stable. So I was decided that a doctor
from Bismarck should rush out to Underwood to treat him
for his injuries. This was quite an event, and the
next day in the Washburn Leader, which was a newspaper
in Washburn, they wrote, quote very notable that Flynn was

(09:59):
tread by a young lady physician, And of course that
young lady was doctor Fanny dun Quinn.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
And I know too that she specialized in diseases of
the ear and eye. But I understand too and in
time as a doctor, as most doctors did, she wore
many hats, such as becoming very adapt to, very proficient
in doing surgeries. So can you tell me a little
bit about Fanny's involvement with the disease of tuberculosis.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yes, from the very beginning of her medical career, Fanny
got involved with working with tuberculosis, and in nineteen oh eight,
the Governor of North Dakota, who was John Burke at
the time, appointed her as a delegate to the International
Congress on Tuberculosis so it was being held in Washington,
d C. The main focus of that congress or convention

(10:57):
was on housing conditions and the spread of the disease
of tuberculosis. Fannie went on many tours of DC hospitals, clinics,
and sanatoriums. Ultimately, ultimately, doctor Fannie Dunquayne and doctor James
Grassik were the ones that lobbied the state legislature for

(11:17):
help with tuberculosis care, and in nineteen twelve, as a result,
this appeal led to the approval of the state Congress
to build the State Tuberculosis Sanatoratorium in the Turtle Mountains
at San Haven in North Dakota.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, she definitely was a woman of her time, and
not only did her interests revolve around education and medicine,
but she also got a little bit into the political
end where she was involved with the movement to allow
women to vote. I'm telling me about that.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Yes, she was active member of the North Kota State
Suffrage Association. She led that association's legislative committee from at
least nineteen thirteen to nineteen seventeen. Interestingly, she was also
on the floor of the state Senate with other prominent
suffrage leaders when a vote passed on suffrage in nineteen nineteen.

(12:20):
December one, nineteen nineteen is when North Dcotta voted to
ratify the nineteenth Amendment, and by August eighteenth, nineteen twenty,
all female citizens of the United States would now be
granted the right to vote.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
And Fanny Quain she did not last let the dust
settle under her feet. She was used to being extremely busy,
I understand, so how did she share her time in
other ways? After she retired from medical practice.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Again because of her interest in tuberculosis, she was instrumental
in establishing the North Dakota Tuberculosis Association, which of course
later became the immer Can Lung Association of North Dkota.
She served in a variety of positions with that association,
including that she was a president from nineteen twenty eight
to nineteen thirty six. Fannie also helped phone North Dakota's

(13:14):
first baby clinic and served on the North Dakota Board
of Health from nineteen twenty three to nineteen thirty three,
and in that she helped raise standards of nursing training
in the state. She also chaired the Nurses Training School
Committee at Bismarck Evangelical Hospital from nineteen twenty to nineteen
forty and was a president of the Nurses Training School.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Now, I'm sure that Fannie Dunquane was very much aware
of the challenges faced by women's women physicians. I'm sure
those challenges were faced by her, and she fully understood
what those were. What are some of the things that
she did to help fellow women doctors and to show
women that they could do a thing.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
She served as a regional director of the Medical Women's
National Association from nineteen thirty three to nineteen thirty four,
and that covered the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,
and Iowa. Another thing that was very interesting is that
she became a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at
Franklin Field in Philadelphia on June twenty seventh, nineteen thirty six.

(14:27):
And that's the convention at which Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted
the party's nomination for the presidency.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
I bet that was something absolutely.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
I've seen the photographs of how huge it was in
this great, big Field house that they You know, we
were used to seeing things like this in great big
buildings with great ballrooms and things like that. This was
outside in a field in a field house.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yes, you talk about a historical event being there for history.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
The picture was amazing.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I can imagine. I heard that in the late nineteen
thirties Fanny and Eric's son died. Can you tell me
how that unfortunate event happened.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yes, it's interesting to know that their son, Bill was
one of the most promising anthropologists of the nineteen thirties,
and he died on August second, nineteen thirty nine, in Brazil,
where he was studying the remote Termai Indian tribe. Sadly,
he committed suicide in order to help spare the spreading
of this terrible disease that he had contracted. He knew

(15:34):
a lot of the members of the tribe and did
not want them to get what he had. Now, there's
no way to determine whether it was a factor. However,
soon after Bill's direct death, Fanny and Eric Quin divorced.
Now Eric remarried in nineteen forty, but Fanny did not
marry again. After a long successful career as a physician

(15:58):
and public health advocate, Fannie Dunquayin died February second, nineteen
fifty at the age of seventy five, just recently in
some of my research, I also phoned as a fitting
tribute that took place that in twenty seventeen, doctor Fannie
Dunquain BHS class of eighteen ninety three was inducted into

(16:22):
the Bismarck High School Hall of Fame. This honor acknowledge
is alumni of the school who have brought special recognition
to themselves or to Bismark High School by demonstrating high
qualities of character and leadership during the their time, during
or following their time at BHS, And that certainly does

(16:44):
fit Fannie Dunquain to a t.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, you almost could have called her a renaissance woman
because she was in education. She was very much interested
in the suffrage movement, for politics. Her medical career, you know,
was a shining light for all women, showing women what
they could do exactly. That's why she's one of my

(17:08):
heroes of Bilsmore history. Yes, along with Linda Slaughter if
I remember, yes, And as far as their son, I
remember reading something. I think it might have been an
obituary that I came across for him. Was his body
ever recovered or because I know there's a memorial stone,

(17:32):
I believe in Fairview Cemetery if I'm not mistaken, But
I wasn't entirely sure if his body was ever recovered.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
I'm in the same boat, Okay. I never did really
see whether they were able to recover the body or not.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Okay, it seems to me that they did not. You know,
so they did erect a gravestone, but it's more of
a memorial than it would be the actual grave site
for their son.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
It sounds kind of like it was sort of political too.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, And also the distance to transport him back, because
if he was down in Brazil, that's a long way
from Bismarck.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Right. Governor ny who of North Dakota at the time,
did try to help the queens with this situation and
getting to know more about what happened. But like I said,
I'm in the same boat as you with research. I
never did see if the body was ever brought back.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
And I can't imagine how tragic that was for for
Fani and for Eric to lose their only son.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Very much so. And the sister Marion really was very devastated.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh I can't imagine that is how I would feel,
and I can't imagine how she would feel Yeah, what
a tragedy to happen in that family. And my guess
is that though like you said, there was no way
to determine that it was a factor, but I'm sure
it had something to do with with the ending of

(19:02):
their marriage. Yes, And to close out the program, I
know that you have another interesting story about doctor Fanny
Queen that you would like to share.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
I would. This is probably my favorite story about her
and all the things I've heard about her. What happened
was that while she was working as a physician in
Bismarck's received a telegram that one of her patients was
treated for q to penasities and he was in Dickinson
and an old country doctor from out there had decided

(19:37):
that the man should be get on a train and
be sent all the way to Brainerd, Minnesota, of all
places to get treatment. Now, Fanny, in her mind said
that's too long, and she was afraid that the man
would die unless she somehow got him into an operating
room as soon as possible. But the problem was the
man was already on a train and was quite sai,

(20:01):
So Fanny had to get from Bismarck to Mandan before
the train stopped again. The only way to get over
there was across the Missouri River on the railroad bridge.
So Fanny's frantically looking around and finally locates one of
those large railroad hand cars that you pump, and the

(20:22):
section of boss came would only let her take that
handkurt if he went along. Yeah, so anyway, not wanting
to fight with him, she agreed and said he could
help her pomp. The problem was, she realizes they were
going along that the man was drunk and his intention

(20:43):
was to basically just sit there and enjoy the ride.
He wasn't going to help with the With the herd part,
she couldn't pump all four positions by herself for the
six miles to Mandown. But suddenly, out of the clear
blue appeared three high school boys who saw her, and
they jumped on the hand kurt and manned the other

(21:04):
three positions as they say, bless yes, and as they say,
uphill and against the wind. They managed to make it
three miles when they realized that the train was already
in man down and it was already starting to pull out.
But they weren't going to give up, so they pumped
and toil. They were within one hundred feet of the

(21:26):
upcoming oncoming train, and they threw the hand Kurt and
his drunken passenger off of the tracks and ran toward
the train. Thankfully, as a last car passed, the conductor
pulled her on board. She found her patient, and when
they reached Bismarck, she wouldn't let them go any further.

(21:48):
She took the man to the hospital, where she performed
an operation to take out his appendix and in doing so,
saved his life.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Boy talk, I mean, you could almost do a TV
show about that, you really could. And she was an amazing,
amazing woman, I mean for that time and to be
as gutsy as she was, you know, both her and
Linda Slaughter. I know our heroes heroines for you, yes,
you know, and hearing the stories that you've told, you

(22:18):
know their heroes for me too, because they were women
in a time where women were not very much recognized
for any achievements. It was a man's world, literally, right,
I agree, And I also hope that maybe not a
lot of young people will hear this, but if they do,
I hope it gives them some some sort of person

(22:41):
to look up as a role model. Also, even though
the times are different now. The strength of these women
that we talk about on these shows, including Fanny dun Quin,
are amazing. She definitely neither woman was definitely could definitely
be called the weaker sex. For sure, they were. They
were amazing, you know, with what both of them accomplished

(23:04):
in their life. They had a very rich career across
many fields. And yeah, thanks a lot for doing this.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
I loved it.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yes, it was so fun. I love hearing about stories
about strong women and Fanny definitely right is right up there,
ye she is, and that she was absolutely amazing. And
so again I want to thank you Anne for visiting
with us today about doctor Fannie dun Quane, a truly

(23:32):
amazing woman for her time. And where can our audience
find out more information about her and more details about
the contributions that she made not only in Bismarck, but
in North Dakota.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Well, of course, logically if you go online you'll find
a lot of things about her, but there are also
several historic books that have been written that have a
little bit of an idea of what she was through.
But these days the easiest way is to just, as
we say, google her and learn a little bit more

(24:06):
some of the stories don't come O unless you really
dig into the research. But you'll find that it's a
fascinating place, that Internet that takes you down into rabbit
holes where you can find always lots of getting lost.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
You know, Wikipedia has its drawbacks, and I always would
check the sources too correct to substantiate with the article
talked about. So don't frown on Wikipedia, but go to
the sources and look at those sources too for additional facts.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
But yeah, she was an amazing woman and I appreciate
you talking with us about it about her today.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Thank you for listening to History Hot Dish. If you
like what you heard. That is Mark Historical Society host
programs and events throughout the year. We welcome all those
with an interest in local history to join us. For
more information about programs or membership, visit our website Bismarkhistory
dot org or find us on Facebook. You can find
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(25:07):
Radioaccess dot org, and anywhere you find great podcasts. History
Hot Dish is produced by the Bismarck Historical Society in
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