Romania Pratt Penrose

Romania Pratt Penrose (1839-1932)

Romania Pratt Penrose was a pioneer, physician, and women's advocate. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.

Family Background

1839. August 8: Born Romania Bunnell in Indiana. She moved with her newly-converted Mormon family to Nauvoo in 1846. Lacking provisions, they were unable to travel west with the main body of Saints and returned to Indiana. Her father joined the gold rush to California, hoping to raise enough money to move the family to Utah. But he contracted typhoid fever in 1849 and died in a mining camp.

In 1859 she married Parley P. Pratt, Jr.; they had seven children.

Pioneer

1855. Romania's mother took her four children to Omaha, Nebraska, where they joined a wagon train for Utah. Romania later recalled, "The journey across the plains with ox teams was a summer full of pleasure to me; the early morning walks gathering wild flowers, climbing the rugged and oftimes forbidding hills—the pleasant evening gatherings of the young folks by the bright camp fire while sweet songs floated forth on the evening air to gladden the wild and savage ear of the red men or wild beasts as well as our own young hearts."

Student

Romania had attended the Female Seminary in Crawfordsville, Indiana, before moving to Utah. The death of a friend may have determined the course of her future career. "I saw her lying on her bed, her life slowly ebbing away, and no one near knew how to ease her pain or prevent her death; it was a natural enough case, and a little knowledge might have saved her. Oh, how I longed to know something to do, and at that moment I solemnly vowed to myself never to be found in such a position again, and it was my aim ever afterward to arrange my life work that I might study the science which would relieve suffering, appease pain, prevent death."

1873. When Brigham Young called for women to study medicine, Romania sold her home and piano, arranged for her mother to care for her five surviving children (ages one to fourteen), and went to medical school in New York City.

While waiting for the term to begin at Women's Medical College, Romania helped her husband Parley edit The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.

1874. Medical school was difficult. Long hours of study made the days seem "so much alike that it was as one long day." After her first year, Romania returned home to a destitute family. She called on President Young for assistance; he told Eliza R. Snow, "She must continue her studies in the East. We need her here, and her talents will be of great use to this people. Take this upon yourself, Sister Eliza, to see to it that the Relief Societies furnish Sister Pratt with the necessary money to complete her studies."

The next fall Romania returned to the Women's Medical College; she graduated March 15, 1877. Her thesis was, "Puerperal Hemorrhage, Its Cause and Cure." She remained in Philadelphia for two more years, specializing in diseases of the eye and ear.

Plural Marriage, Divorce, and Plural Marriage

Returning to Salt Lake, she learned that her husband had married a plural wife. "The principle of plural marriage seemed a most rational and eternal truth. I never opposed the principle when practiced with singleness of heart as commanded. See it lived according to the great and grand aim of its author, though it be a fiery furnace at some period of our life, it will prove the one thing needful to cleanse and purify our inmost soul of selfishness, jealousy, and other mundane attributes which seem to lie closest to the citadel of life."

She divorced Pratt in 1881 and became the third plural wife of Charles Penrose in 1886. Penrose became an apostle in 1904, and counselor in the First Presidency in 1911.

Physician

1879. Dr. Romania B. Pratt established a medical practice in Salt Lake City. She also taught classes in anatomy, physiology, and obstetrics, and wrote hygiene articles for the Woman's Exponent and Young Woman's Journal.

1883. As a visiting professor at the Deseret Hospital, she performed the first cataract operation in Utah. She continued her medical practice until 1912.

Women's Advocate

1882. Dr. Pratt accompanied Zina D.H. Young and Ellen B. Ferguson, another Mormon physician, to the Woman's Suffrage Convention in New York. As an advocate of woman's suffrage, she espoused the philosophy that it was each woman's "duty and privilege to do whatever she can that will promote the advancement and evolution of her own sex."

1908. While her husband, Charles W. Penrose, served as president of the European Mission, Romania Pratt Penrose represented Utah at the Woman's International Suffrage Alliance in Amsterdam, speaking to the convention on women's suffrage in the western United States.

Death

1932. November 9: Died in Salt Lake City at the age of ninety-three. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Sources
Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Romania B. Pratt. "Memoir of Romania B. Pratt, M.D." Uncatalogued manuscript.
Waters, Christine Croft. "Romania P. Penrose." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1978.
Woman 's Exponent, 7:217.
Young Woman's Journal, 2:534.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Family Background 1839. August 8: Born Romania Bunnell in Indiana. She moved with her newly-converted Mormon family to Nauvoo in 1846. Lacking provisions, they were unable to travel west with the main body of Saints and returned to Indiana. Her father joined the gold rush to California, hoping to raise enough money to move the family to Utah. But he contracted typhoid fever in 1849 and died in a mining camp. In 1859 she married Parley P. Pratt, Jr.; they had seven children. Pioneer 1855. Romania's mother took her four children to Omaha, Nebraska, where they joined a wagon train for Utah. Romania later recalled, "The journey across the plains with ox teams was a summer full of pleasure to me; the early morning walks gathering wild flowers, climbing the rugged and oftimes forbidding hills—the pleasant evening gatherings of the young folks by the bright camp fire while sweet songs floated forth on the evening air to gladden the wild and savage ear of the red men or wild beasts as well as our own young hearts." Student Romania had attended the Female Seminary in Crawfordsville, Indiana, before moving to Utah. The death of a friend may have determined the course of her future career. "I saw her lying on her bed, her life slowly ebbing away, and no one near knew how to ease her pain or prevent her death; it was a natural enough case, and a little knowledge might have saved her. Oh, how I longed to know something to do, and at that moment I solemnly vowed to myself never to be found in such a position again, and it was my aim ever afterward to arrange my life work that I might study the science which would relieve suffering, appease pain, prevent death." 1873. When Brigham Young called for women to study medicine, Romania sold her home and piano, arranged for her mother to care for her five surviving children (ages one to fourteen), and went to medical school in New York City. While waiting for the term to begin at Women's Medical College, Romania helped her husband Parley edit The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt. 1874. Medical school was difficult. Long hours of study made the days seem "so much alike that it was as one long day." After her first year, Romania returned home to a destitute family. She called on President Young for assistance; he told Eliza R. Snow, "She must continue her studies in the East. We need her here, and her talents will be of great use to this people. Take this upon yourself, Sister Eliza, to see to it that the Relief Societies furnish Sister Pratt with the necessary money to complete her studies." The next fall Romania returned to the Women's Medical College; she graduated March 15, 1877. Her thesis was, "Puerperal Hemorrhage, Its Cause and Cure." She remained in Philadelphia for two more years, specializing in diseases of the eye and ear. Plural Marriage, Divorce, and Plural Marriage Returning to Salt Lake, she learned that her husband had married a plural wife. "The principle of plural marriage seemed a most rational and eternal truth. I never opposed the principle when practiced with singleness of heart as commanded. See it lived according to the great and grand aim of its author, though it be a fiery furnace at some period of our life, it will prove the one thing needful to cleanse and purify our inmost soul of selfishness, jealousy, and other mundane attributes which seem to lie closest to the citadel of life." She divorced Pratt in 1881 and became the third plural wife of Charles Penrose in 1886. Penrose became an apostle in 1904, and counselor in the First Presidency in 1911. Physician 1879. Dr. Romania B. Pratt established a medical practice in Salt Lake City. She also taught classes in anatomy, physiology, and obstetrics, and wrote hygiene articles for the Woman's Exponent and Young Woman's Journal. 1883. As a visiting professor at the Deseret Hospital, she performed the first cataract operation in Utah. She continued her medical practice until 1912. Women's Advocate 1882. Dr. Pratt accompanied Zina D.H. Young and Ellen B. Ferguson, another Mormon physician, to the Woman's Suffrage Convention in New York. As an advocate of woman's suffrage, she espoused the philosophy that it was each woman's "duty and privilege to do whatever she can that will promote the advancement and evolution of her own sex." 1908. While her husband, Charles W. Penrose, served as president of the European Mission, Romania Pratt Penrose represented Utah at the Woman's International Suffrage Alliance in Amsterdam, speaking to the convention on women's suffrage in the western United States. Death 1932. November 9: Died in Salt Lake City at the age of ninety-three. Buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Sources Salt Lake City, Utah. LDS Church Archives. Romania B. Pratt. "Memoir of Romania B. Pratt, M.D." Uncatalogued manuscript. Waters, Christine Croft. "Romania P. Penrose." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1978. Woman 's Exponent, 7:217. Young Woman's Journal, 2:534.