Chloe Annette Buckel (1833 - 1912)

Born 25 Aug 1833 in Warsaw, Genesee, New York, United States

Died 17 Aug 1912 at age 78 in Oakland, Alameda, California, United States

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Biography

Annette Buckel was born in New York.

Annette volunteered in the Civil War as a trained physician, she worked as an agent of Dorothea Dix training, appointing, and supervising nurses in the field, and was appointed Indiana sanitary commissioner by Governor Oliver P. Morton.

Annette Buckel was interred in California.

Chloe preferred to be called Annette or C. Annette.

Chloe was born 25 Aug 1833 in Warsaw, New York. She was the only child of Thomas Buckel and his wife, who's maiden name was Bartlett. Her parents died when she was 3 months old, and she went to live with her grandparents. At age four, her grandparents died and she was raised by her aunts.

When she was 14, she moved away from her aunts, and began to teach school. Deciding to study medicine, she worked to save money and borrowed from her life insurance policy in order to pay tuition to Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1858 after submitting her thesis, titled "A Treatise on Insanity". She probably knew Orianna Moon who graduated one year before her.

Chloe began her career as a physician working with Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell in the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children. After a year, she moved to Chicago and started a similar clinic. She practiced in Chicago until 1863. The 1860 Census shows her living in the 5th Ward, Chicago City (her name is recorded as "Clara A. Buckle").^[1]

Toward the end of the second year of the Civil War, she gave up her medical position and joined a company of nurses and surgeons which Governor Morton of Indiana sent south with sanitary supplies. Upon their arrival in Memphis, they assisted in establishing hospitals in stores and warehouses. Because of her training and experience, Chloe was appointed to help in the selection of women who wanted to become nurses. Dorothea Dix also appointed her as her representative for the state of Indiana.

Following the appointments, her work expanded dramatically. She was placing applicants in Louisville hospitals, instructing women nurses at Jefferson General Hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and supervising Indiana nurses in Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee as well as Huntsville, Alabama. Approximately 50 women nurses were under her supervision for two years. She was given a pass by General Ulysses S. Grant which gave her free military transportation and permission to enter and use the facilities of all government hospitals in the Southwest. She became known by the soldiers as the "Little Major", and was referred to as "Miss Buckel" (not Dr. Buckel) by military and medical personnel.

After the war, Chloe spent the next ten years working as a resident physician at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. The 1870 Census shows residents of the hospital, including nurses, nurses in training, physicians, servants, etc. (only 5 are listed here).^[2]

She then studied medicine and surgical techniques in Vienna and Paris for two years. In 1877 she moved to Oakland, California^[3] where she set up her practice and was a consulting physician for the Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children in San Francisco. She was the first woman admitted to the Alameda County Medical Association.

In 1880, Chloe is the head of household, living in Oakland.^[4]

In 1904 the Committee on Pensions granted her twelve dollars a month for her service in the Civil War. ^[5]

Chloe was very active in the Alameda County community. Her efforts helped establish a milk commission to ensure that milk was certified and not supplied to dairies by cows with tuberculosis. She also established a cooking school which helped form a home economics program in the Oakland schools. Chloe became an advocate for the welfare of orphaned children and held roles of Trustee and Chairman for Francis M "Borax" Smith's homes for orphans and girls. She also advocated for separate education for children with learning disabilities, and at her death, left her estate in a trust to care for intellectually disabled children.

In 1910 she was living with her friend Charlotte Playter in Oakland.^[6]

She passed away on 17 Aug 1912 at her home in Piedmont, Alameda, California and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda, California. The inscription on her gravestone is "A physician beloved by two generations. Every human cause had her sympathy and many her active aid." ^[7][8][9]

Chloe was buried in the plot of California Governor Washington Montgomery Bartlett, her cousin.

Sources

1. ↑ 1860 Census: "United States Census, 1860", citing Page: 265; Affiliate Publication Number: M653; Affiliate Film Number: 166; FHL microfilm: 803166; Record number: 10415, FamilySearch Record: MX4L-D9X (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9YBX-B8Y Image number 00269.
2. ↑ 1870 Census: "United States Census, 1870", citing Page: 1; Affiliate Publication Number: M593; Line: 36; FHL microfilm: 000552144; Record number: 39, FamilySearch Record: MD3G-VBH (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: S3HY-DCT1-P7 Image number 00005.
3. ↑ "California, Pioneer Migration Index, Compiled 1906-1935," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPJH-36RW : 16 August 2019), Chloe Annette Buckel, 1877; citing Emigration, California, United States, California State Library, Sacramento.
4. ↑ 1880 Census: "United States Census, 1880", citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm , FamilySearch Record: M6G2-RM3 (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9YBS-9B4N Image number 00319.
5. ↑ VA Pension: "United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933", citing NARA microfilm publication M850 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,634,324, FamilySearch Record: K64Q-G7P (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 939K-XHQ4-F, Name: C Annette Buckel; Pension Date: 1907-1933; Pension Place: United States; Death Date: 17 Aug 1912; Event Type: Pension; Pub Unit: 1.
6. ↑ 1910 Census: "United States Census, 1910", citing enumeration district (ED) ED 151, sheet 13B, family 336, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 72; FHL microfilm 1,374,085, FamilySearch Record: MV2H-7VT (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GRVK-9W7R Image number 00110, Annette Buckel (77), single friend, in household of Charlotte S Clayter (48) in Oakland, Alameda, California, United States. Born in New York.
7. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave (has image), Find A Grave: Memorial #8862145 (accessed 13 February 2023), Memorial page for Dr Chloe Annette Buckel (25 Aug 1833-17 Aug 1912), citing Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Alameda County, California, USA (plot: Plot 28, Lot 10); Maintained by Shiver (contributor 46539565).
8. ↑ Deceased Physician: "United States Deceased Physician File (AMA), 1864-1968", citing Record number: 0, FamilySearch Record: CY28-1L2M (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 3QS7-L9QG-5F5V Image number 02517, Chloe Annette Buckel death 17 Aug 1912 in Piedmont, Alameda, California, United States.
9. ↑ Death: "California Death Index, 1905-1939", citing 22966, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento; FHL microfilm 1,686,044, FamilySearch Record: QK91-CJY1 (accessed 13 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 33S7-81SK-6TJ Image number 00373, Chloe A Buckel death 17 Aug 1912 (age 78) in Alameda, California, United States.

• Monumental inscription. Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California. 1912 (b. 1833) BUCKEL, Chloe Annette. Photographed by: Find A Grave contributor Chris Nelson, ID 46617359.

See Also:

• "History is all around us – Mountain View Cemetery", Evanosky, Dennis, (Oakland, California, Stellar Media Group, Inc., 2007), GoogleBooks (googlebooks.org), Page 90.

• "On the Field of Mercy", Mercedes Graf, (Amherst, New York, Humanity Books, 2010), Archive.org (Internet Archive), Chloe Annette Buckel, pages 59-64.

• "C. Annette Buckel Wikipedia", The Free Encyclopedia (accessed February 8, 2023).

• "Dr. Chloe Annette Buckel", Oakland Wiki (localwiki.org/Oakland/), (accessed February 8, 2023).

• "Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America", Jane E. Schultz, (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2004), Archive.org (Internet Archive), Chloe Annette Buckel, Pages 166, 173-175, 202.

• Obituary: "United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011", FamilySearch Record: Q5QP-MP3D (accessed 12 February 2023) FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSHK-QSJ9-9 Image number 00472, Name: Dr C Annette Buckle; Obituary Date: 18 Aug 1912; Obituary Place: San Francisco, California; Birth Date: 25 Aug 1833; Birth Place: Warsaw, New York; Death Date: About 18 Aug 1912; Occupation: Nurse; Residence Date: 17 Aug 1912; Age: 25; Source Newspaper: San Francisco Chronicle.

Acknowledgements

• Gravesite photo posted with permission of Find A Grave contributor Chris Nelson, ID 46617359 as noted in email response to request to use his images on WikiTree: "Yes, you may use my image."