Elizabeth Sadoques Mason
Abenaki Indian Registered Nurse
Elizabeth Sadoques Mason’s Abenaki family moved from Odanak Reserve, in Quebec, Canada to Keene, New Hampshire in the late 1880s, though anthropologists report the New Hampshire area around Keene had been home to the Abenaki tribe for thousands of years before settlers arrived based on archeologist evidence. There they opened a basketmaking and tannery business. To make it easier for Americans to pronounce, they changed the family name from M’Sadoques to Sadoques. Elizabeth was born in 1897. Her sister, Maude, became a registered nurse prior to her sister and was also an Episcopalian nun, taking the name of Sister Benedicta. She is believed to have been the first Native American to become a nun in the Episcopalian church. Elizabeth studied in New York and became a registered nurse in 1919.
Though she worked as a nurse in New Hampshire until her retirement in the late 1950s, her role as a private duty nurse for the aging New Hampshire painter Abbot Handerson Thayer is the only role documented that we found so far. She is also known to have given a historical talk on the family history in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1922 and is described as an Abenaki “hiding in plain sight” during a time of Native American stigma and discrimination.
Elizabeth’s story was discovered by Minority Nurse after being contacted by Elizabeth’s granddaughter, Joyce Heywood, who saw a 2002 article about Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail on MinorityNurse.com. As Joyce had Elizabeth’s 1919 nursing certificate, pre-dating Yellowtail, she wanted to right the record of her contribution. Lacking Maude’s certificate, it is unknown the date she graduated, although her graduation precedes Elizabeth and Yellowtail. Lula Owl Gloyne, a nurse graduate from Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in 1916 was featured earlier this week, and is possibly the first Native American nurse, as historians qualify “possibly” when documentation remains unfound.
Further Resources
Learn about Native American history and the nursing profession.
Support the National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association.
Sources
The sources used for the above biography was referenced from Minority Nurse, The Keene Sentinel, Sokoki Sojourn, Abenaki Mural, and University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Anthropology Papers .
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