Born: 20 August 1840, United States
Died: 1915
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Representative Women of New England, published in 1904. It was written by Mary H. Graves.
SERAPH FRISSELL, M.D., was born in Peru, Berkshire County, Mass., August 20, 1840, being the daughter of Augustus Caæsar and Laura Mack (Emmons) Frissell. Her grandparents were Thomas and Hannah (Phillips) Frissell and Ichabod and Mindwell (Mack) Emmons.
Her father and her paternal grandfather served, each in his day, as Captain of militia. William Frissell, her great-grandfather, served his country in the Revolutionary War.
David Mack, great-grandfather of Dr. Frissell, was one of the earliest settlers in Middlefield, Hampshire County, Mass., going to that locality in 1775, and was one of the founders of the town. He enlisted (from Hebron, Conn.) in the Revolutionary War, but saw no active service, arriving too late to take part in the battle of Saratoga. He was a Captain of troops engaged in suppressing Shays’s Rebellion, and afterward was Colonel of a regiment.
Seraph Frissell was the third in a family of six children, and was but eleven years old when her father died, leaving her mother with limited means for their support. Her girlhood years were divided between domestic work, a factory girl’s life, and school life. During these years she saved enough to defray her expenses for one year at Mount Holyoke Seminary.
The fall of 1801 found her a student at this institution, from which she was graduated in July, 1809, having completed the four years’ course in three years, in the meanwhile teaching for five years.
In 1867 she received from the American Board of Missions the appointment of missionary to Ceylon, but in deference to her mother’s wishes she did not enter upon this work. Beginning the study of medicine in 1872 under Doctors Ruth Gerry and Cynthia Smith, of Ypsilanti, Mich., she received her diploma from the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Michigan on March 24, 1875. She had hospital practice in Detroit, Ypsilanti, and Boston. In 1876 she began the general practice of her profession in Pittsfield, Mass., where she remained for eight years. Since then she has been a resident of Springfield.
Dr. Frissell became a member of Hampden County Medical Society in 1885, being the first woman in Western Massachusetts to be admitted to any district medical society. She was the fourth woman to be admitted a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. She is an honorary member of the Alumna’Association of the Woman’s Medical College, Philadelphia; a member of the Mercy Warren Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution; of E. K. Wilcox Relief Corps; of the American Medical Association; of the Springfield Mount Holyoke Alumna Association; of the Alumna Association of Michigan University; and of the College Club.
In 1896 Dr. Frissell took a course in electrotherapeutics. For some time she has been medical examiner for the Berkshire Life Insurance Company. She is a member of the First Congregational Church of Springfield. During her residence in Pittsfield she was elected the first president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of that city. For seven years she was president of the Woman’s Board of Missions of the South Church. She has been superintendent of the Department of Heredity and Health, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, for Hampden County; and during 1890-91 she was resident physician and lecturer on physiology and hygiene at Mount Holyoke College. Her specialty has been diseases of women and chiklren. While devoted to her profession, she is interested in the progressive movements of the day, and her sympathies are as broad as humanity.
Dr. Frissell is the author of several interesting papers, notably one on Memorial Day in Hampton, Va. She presented before the American Medical Association a valuable paper on the treatment of diphtheria without alcohol, which was published in the American Medical Association Journal, November 13, 1897. She has also written papers on the following topics: “Tobacco,” “Contents of a Teapot,” “Why I’m a Temperance Doctor,” “Hygiene: Why it should be taught in our Public Schools,” “Prevention better than Cure,” “Colonial Flags and the Evolution of the Stars and Stripes,” also “Pioneer Women in Medicine.”
The following is excerpted from A Woman of the Century, edited by Frances E. Willard and Mary A Livermore, published in 1893 by Charles Wells Moulton.
FRISSELL, Miss Seraph, physician, born in Peru, Mass., 20th August, 1840. She is a daughter of Augustus C. and Laura Mack Emmons Krissell. Her father and grandfather were captains of the State militia. Her great-grandfather. William Frissell, was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War and a pioneer settler in western Massachusetts. Her mother’s father, Major Ichabod Emmons, was a relative of Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, and was one of the first settlers of Hinsdale, Mass. Her grandfather. Col. David Mack, was the second white man to make a clearing in the town of Middlefield. Mass., then a wilderness. The first eleven years of her life were spent within sight of Saddleback Mountain, the highest point of land in the State. As a child she was quiet and diffident, not mingling freely with her schoolmates, and with a deep reverence for religious things. After her father’s death, which occurred when she was eleven years of age, the problem which confronted her mother was to gain a livelihood for herself and six children, Seraph being the third. Her twelfth year was spent with an aunt in western New York, during which time she derided she would rather earn her own living, if possible, than be dependent on relatives. Returning home, the next year and a half was devoted to school life and helping a neighbor in household work, thereby earning necessary clothing. When she was fifteen, her oldest sister decided to seek employment in a woolen mill, and Seraph accompanied her. The next six years were divided between a factory girl’s life and school life. During those years she earned her living and, besides contributing a certain amount for benevolent and missionary purposes, saved enough for one year’s expenses in Mt. Holyoke Seminary. The week she made her application for admittance, the proposition was made to her to take up the study of medicine. But the goal towards which her eyes had been directed, even in childhood, and for which she had worked all those years, was within reach, and she was not to be dissuaded from carrying out her long cherished plan of obtaining an education. Hence she was found, in the fall of 1861, commencing her student life in that “Modern School of Prophets for Women,” remaining one year. Then followed one year of teaching, and a second year in the seminary. After four years more of teaching, in the fall of 1868 she resumed her studies and was graduated in July, 1869. The following three years were spent in teaching, during which time the question of taking up the study of medicine was often considered. It was in the fall of 1872 she left home to take her first course in the medical department of the University of Michigan. She received her medical diploma 24th March, 1875. The same spring found her attending clinics in New York City. In June, 1875, she went to Boston for hospital and dispensary work, remaining one year. In September, 1876, she opened her office in Pittsfield. Mass., where for eight years she did pioneer work as a woman physician, gaining a good practice. In 1884 she removed to Springfield, Mass., where she now resides. During the school years of 1890 and 1891 she was the physician in Ml. Holyoke College, keeping her office practice in Springfield. She was the first woman admitted to the Hampden Medical Society, which was in 1885, the law to admit women having been passed in 1884. A part of her professional success she attributes to not prescribing alcoholic stimulants. Dr. Frissell has held the office of president, secretary and treasurer of the local Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and is now county superintendent of the department of heredity and health. For years she has been identified with home and foreign missions, seven years having served as president of auxiliary to the Woman’s Board of Missions.