On Nov. 9, 1872, she was married to Charles B. Goodman, a recent widower, deputy Butler County auditor and an examiner for Hamilton City Schools who was 28 years her senior. However, he died within a year of their marriage on Sept. 5, 1873, leaving Goodman a young widow.
Not desiring to reengage with married life, Goodman instead taught classes in penmanship to build up enough funds to attend school. She found a place at the National Normal School in Lebanon in 1880, eventually filling a position at the institution akin to school matron.
It was in this position that she found that she had a natural ability to care for the sick, as one of her duties in that position was caring for ill resident students. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree and high honors in 1884, she immediately moved to Valhalla, New York to attend New York Medical College.
During the summer months when school was not in session she worked as a nurse at New York City’s St. Luke’s and Deaconess Hospitals. One of these experiences included administering to a ward of disease sickened children, allowing Goodman to develop an unofficial specialty with pediatrics.
Following her 1888 graduation, Goodman passed an examination to become a house physician for the Medical College and while working in that capacity completed a post-graduate course that gave her a specialization in the diseases of women.
She returned to Hamilton in 1890 and opened a practice for women and children at her home at 101 Ross Ave. Although many sources, including her own obituary, have erroneously claimed that Goodman was the first female professional physician in Hamilton, she was actually the second, with Dr. Edith Beauchamp, later a victim of the 1913 flood, being the first. However, this still placed her among the trailblazing first generation of women to break into traditionally male dominated professions.
It was recorded that, “she had a struggle against prejudice; but she overcame this by sheer force of character and ability.”
In addition to being among the most experienced and highly skilled physicians in Hamilton, Goodman also exhibited an enthusiasm for education and promoting women’s causes. In the early 1890s, she taught a German language class for the local schools, hosted a number of public lectures, and chaired a committee to create a Woman’s Exchange, with the latter of these allowing impoverished women to sell homemade items on consignment.
The classes and lectures that Goodman gave were numerous. She taught free classes for “self sustaining” young ladies employed in shops and factories on how to nurse and care for the sick as well as talks on hygiene and physiology. One of her most locally famous talks was a lecture on women’s clothing which advised against the use of steel corsets due to their maleffects on internal organs and also denounced the widespread practice of foot binding in China.
One of the most popular classes that she organized was related to calisthenics, part of a popular movement known as Physical Culture. In late 1892, she negotiated an arrangement with the YMCA to use their gymnasium for a Physical Culture class for women, and also arranged for the hiring of a teacher named Miss Fouts who was a professional in the field.
Goodman was also a strong supporter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, doing lectures and paper readings for the organization, allowing them the use of her office for meetings, and eventually serving as the organization’s president. During her term as president, the WCTU, “deploring the fact that alcoholic wine is used by some churches,” purchased and distributed grape juice to most area Protestant churches to use for communion.
Her views on temperance were in alignment with her Presbyterian beliefs and Goodman regularly attended the Westminster Presbyterian Church. As she once detailed to a local newspaper, Goodman’s personal motto was taken from Proverbs, “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.”
Throughout this time, she remained in practice as a physician. Newspapers from the time record examples of her treating patients and include being summoned to Cincinnati to assist with a surgery, aiding a neighbor who fell backwards out of a window while washing it, and arranging for an operation for a resident of the Children’s Home. In 1892, she chaired the initial meeting of a committee to form a local hospital and later worked to solicit subscriptions to support the effort, giving her a significant role in the establishment of Mercy Hospital.
She traveled extensively, frequently visiting family in Cincinnati as well as going to medical conferences and talking vacations. In 1893, she attended the National Convention of Homeopathic Medicine in Chicago, as well as attending the World’s Fair, before departing for Europe for three months where she studied advanced medical courses at hospitals in the most notable European cities.
In April 1894, she was appointed as a delegate representing Hamilton to attend a meeting of Women Suffragettes held at Sinton Hall, the YMCA building, in Cincinnati. She and her fellow delegates welcomed the event’s keynote lecturer, none other than Susan B. Anthony.
The culmination of all of Goodman’s efforts and interests was embodied in the idea of forming a Young Women’s Christian Association as presented to her and a group from Westminster Presbyterian in February 1900. For the next two years, Goodman dedicated herself to the establishment of the YWCA.
However, she would not live to see the fruit of her efforts. Goodman died of a dropsical affection, now called an edema, brought on by cancer on June 6, 1902. The YWCA received its charter 19 days later on June 25 and was dedicated in early November 1914.
Goodman’s obituary summarized her impact, “In the death of Dr. Julia Goodman, Hamilton loses one of her best, most foremost, most charitable and most brilliant women. One who has done an immense amount of good and who all during her professional career did more charitable work than the public ever knew.”
Brad Spurlock is the manager of the Smith Library of Regional History and Cummins Local History Room, Lane Libraries. A certified archivist, Brad has over a decade of experience working with local history, maintaining archival collections and collaborating on community history projects. He also serves as a board member for Historic Hamilton Inc. and the Butler County Historical Society.
MORE DETAILS
Dr. Julia Goodman will be one of four honorees at this year’s Hollow Earth Fest, which will be 1-7 p.m. April 25 at Symmes Park.
About the Author