Yuba
County
Biographies
FANNIE EMMA SOUTHERN
Fannie Emma Southern, whose life has
been one of splendid service in the nursing profession, opened the first
hospital in Marysville in 1908 and has been at the head of the Rideout Memorial
Hospital here since that time. She was
born at Southern’s Stage Station, Shasta County, California, a daughter of
Simeon Fisher and Sarah Emma (Lafferty) Southern, both of whom were natives of
Kentucky, the former born September 6, 1827, and the latter November 5,
1837. Simon F. Southern was a descendent
of Ludwig Fischer, who emigrated from Germany to America in 1732, settled in
Culpepper County, Virginia. The latter
married Barbara Blankenbaker and their son, Stephen Fischer, wedded Mary
Magdalene Garr. The Garr family of
Frankenhofen, Bavaria, emigrated to America in 1732,
sailing from Rotterdam on the ship “Loyal Judith” and arriving in Philadelphia
on the 26th of September of that year. In 1519 the Garr family was presented with
the “Stamwappen” or family crest by Emperor Charles V for their “true and loyal
services.” The above Stephen and Mary
Magdalene (Garr) Fischer were the great-grandparents of Simeon Fisher Southern,
the father of Fannie Emma Southern.
Simeon F. Southern enlisted in Company A,
Second Kentucky Volunteers, when the Mexican War broke out in 1845 and was
seriously wounded at the capture of the city of Mexico. At the close of the war he was assistant
forage master under Captain Rufus Ingall, who was in the command of Colonel E.
J. Steptoe. He spent the winter of
1854-55 in Salt Lake City during the uprising of the Mormons under Brigham
Young and came to California with Colonel E. J. Steptoe on his march to Oregon
in 1855. Simeon F. Southern was married
to Sarah Emma Lafferty, who came to California via the Isthmus of Panama in
September, 1855, and was a representative of an old Kentucky family of Scotch
and Irish descent.
Fannie
Emma Southern pursued a grammar school course at Redding, California, and in
1900 entered the School of Nursing in San Francisco, from which she was
graduated in 1902. Thereafter she served
as surgical nurse and superintendent of nurses until May, 1905, when she
embarked upon an educational tour, visiting all the leading hospitals of New
York, Washington, D. C., Baltimore and Chicago.
In July, 1905, Miss Southern and two other nurses opened the Florence
Nightingale Hospital in Chico, California, where the only other hospital at
that time was a small one used by the Diamond Match Company. Miss Southern and her associates started with
three beds, without capital or encouragement, their principal assets being
their enthusiasm and determination to succeed.
They closed the hospital there in 1908 and in May of that year opened
the first hospital in Marysville, in the home of Mrs. Phoebe M. Rideout at
Fifth and E Streets, on the site of the Marysville Hotel. Mrs. Rideout had turned over her home to the
medical profession for a hospital and Miss Southern leased it. In 1918 she moved into the present Rideout
Memorial Hospital at Fourth and H Streets, Marysville, which was built by Mrs.
Rideout in memory of her husband. Miss
Southern is still leasing the hospital and has conducted the same most
successfully to the present time. In
1919, in partnership with George P. Harrington, she purchased twenty acres of
land in Sutter County and planted the tract to peaches. The same year she purchased another
twenty-acre tract of bare land, which she planted to peaches now in bearing and
in 1922 she bought twenty acres more.
She likewise owns other realty in Marysville where she is highly
esteemed as a woman of marked business and professional ability.
The
Democratic Party finds in Miss Southern a staunch supporter of its
principles. She was in charge of the
juvenile detention home in Marysville from the time of its inception in May, 1909,
until July, 1918. Fraternally she is
identified with the Order of the Eastern Star and with Marysville Parlor, No.
162, N. D. G. W., of which she was president in 1915. She assisted in organizing the Marysville
Golf Club, became a charter member of the Soroptimist Club and is also a member
of the Marysville Art Club. Miss
Southern was the first woman to join the Yuba-Sutter Fish and Game Association
of Yuba County, and is also a member of the Sportsmen’s Club of
California. Her name is likewise on the
membership roll of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Marysville. She became a charter member of the California
State Nurses Association and was made treasurer of the first nurses’ journal
edited by the California State Nurses Association. During the great influenza epidemic in 1918
Miss Southern devoted her entire time to the management of a “flu” hospital
which the Red Cross established in the old high school building at
Marysville. A decade before, in 1908,
she had established in memory of her sister, Belle Southern, a “little Jim”
free bed in the hospital for crippled children, which she maintained for
several years. She has also educated two
children who would otherwise have been denied the advantages of school
training. Thus her activities have covered
a broad field of usefulness and her life has been one of unselfish service for
the good of humankind.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 36-38. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yuba County Biographies