Annie McFadden

Annie McFadden arrived in the Village of Oil Springs in 1871. While not formally trained as a nurse, as a young woman she spent time working with her grandfather, who was a doctor. The skills she learned while with him were later put to good use in her new hometown.

While visiting a home, McFadden recognized that a small child was sick with smallpox. She immediately went to the village doctor to warn him about the outbreak. The young doctor had never seen a case of smallpox before. She persuaded him to visit the child, but the child died a few days after his visit. McFadden had been inoculated ‘for the natural pox' by her grandfather, so she wasn't afraid to join the doctor visiting the homes of the people that had taken ill.