Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1905 — LYDIA E. PINKHAM [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LYDIA E. PINKHAM

A BRIEF SKETCH OF HER LIFE How the Vegetable Compound Had Its Birth and How the “Panic of ’73” Caused it to be Offered for Public Sale in Drug Stores. THE STORY READS LIKE A ROMANCE

This remarkable woman, whose maiden name was Estes, was born In Lynn, Mass., February 9, 1819, coming from a good old Quaker family. For many years she taught school, and during her career as a teacher she became known ass a woman of an alert and investigating mind, an earnest seeker after knowledge, and above all, she was possessed with a wonderfully sympathetic nature. In 1843 she married Isaac Pinkham, a buiklov - and real estate operator, and their early married life was marked by prosperity and happiness. They had four children, three sows and a daughter. lii those good old-fashioned days few drugs were used in medicines; people relied upon nature's remedies, roots and herbs, which are to day recognized as more potent and efficacious in controlling diseases than any combination of drugs. , Mrs. Pinkham from her youth took a deep interest in medicine, in botany—the study of roots and herbs, their characteristics, and power over disease; she believed that as nature so bountifully* provides food for .the body so she also provides medicine for the ills and weaknesses of tlx* body, in the roots and herbs of the field, and as a wife, mother and sympathetic friend, she often made use of her knowledge of roots and herbs in preparing medicines for her family and friends. Knowing of so much suffering among her sex. after much study and research, Mrs. Pinkham believed that the diseases of women have a common cause, and she set to work to find a common remedy—not at that time as a source of profit, but s.’mply that she might aid the suffering. How her efforts have been rewarded the women of the world know to-da.v. In 1873 the financial crisis struck Lynn. Its length and severity was too much for the large real estate interests of the Pinkham family* as this class of business suffered most from this fearful depression, so when the Centennial year dawned it found their property swept away. At this point the history of Lydia E. Pinklinm’s Vegetable Compound commences: The three sons and daughter, with their mother, combined forces to restore the family fortune. They resolved to give to the world the vegetable compound that Mrs. Pinkham

had so often made from roots and herbs for such of her women neighbors and friends who were sick and ailing. Its success in those cases had been wonderful —its fame had spread, and calls were coming from miles around for this efficacious vegetable compound. They had no money, aud little credit. I’hejr first laboratory was the kitchen, where roots and herbs were steeped on the stove, gradually falling a gross of bottles. Then came the question of selling it, for always before they had given it away free. They hired a job printer to run off some pamphlets setting forth the merits of the medicine, now called Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and these pamphlets were distributed by the Pinkham sous in Boston, New York aud Brooklyn. The wonderful curative properties of the medicine were, to a great extent, self-advertising, for whoever used it recommended it to others, aud the demand gradually increased. In 1877, by combined efforts, the family had saved enough money to ccommence newspaper advertising on a small scale, and from that time the growth and success of the enterprise was assured, until to-day Lydia E. Pinkliain and her Vegetable Compound have become household words everywhere, and thousands of- pounds of roots and herbs are used annually in making this great remedy for woman’s ills. Although Lydia E. Pinkham passed to her reward some years ago, the perpetuation of her gieat work was guarded by her foresight. During her long and eventful experience she was ever methodical in her work and was careful to preser\*e a record of every case that came to her attention. The case of every sick woman who applied to her for advice —and there were thousands—-received careful study, and the details, including symptoms, treatment and results, were' recorded for future reference, and to-day these records, together with thousands made since, are available to sick women the world over, and repre sent a vast collaboration of information regarding the treatment of worn an’s ills which, for authenticity and accuracy, can hardly he equaled in any library in tire world. Another act of foresight on the part of Lydia E. Pinkham was to see that some one of her family was trained to carry on her work, and with that end in view, for years before her death, had as her chief assistant her daugh-ter-in-law, the present Mrs. Pinkham Therefore, under the guidance and careful training of Lydia E. Pinkham, and a" vast experience of her own, covering twenty five years, the present Mrs. Pinkham is dxi-optionally well equipped to advise sick women, which she is always glad to do free of chn rge. The record of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, made of simple herbs and roots, is a proud and peerless one. It is a record of constant conquest over the obstinate ills of women, greater than that of any other one medicine of its kind In the world, and will ever stand as a monument to that noble woman whose name It bears.