Background
Bennett was born in Frankford, Philadelphia, on July 10, 1769.
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Jesse Bennett
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He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree at Philadelphia College before apprenticing with Doctor Benjamin Rush and attending Medical School. In April 1791, he received the title Doctor of Medicine, at the same time he received his M. A. degree. Doctor Bennett married Mission Elizabeth Hogg in 1793 and settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, establishing his practice in a log cabin.
When Elizabeth became pregnant, Bennett engaged a Doctor Humphrey of Staunton, Virginia, to attend Elizabeth at the delivery.
Caesarean section operation
After Elizabeth had endured a prolonged labor, Doctor Humphrey and Bennett determined the only options were a Caesarean section on Elizabeth or a craniotomy on the unborn infant. Doctor Humphrey refused to do anything, feeling that either operation meant certain death for both the mother and her infant.
lieutenant appears Doctor Humphrey then left the Bennett home. Doctor Bennett assembled a crude operating table from two boards supported by barrels.
He then removed both of Elizabeth"s ovaries, saying he"d "not be subjected to such an ordeal again." Finally he sutured the surgical wound with stout linen thread, the kind used in frontier homes to sew heavy clothing.
Healing and Aftermath
Elizabeth recovered and was able to be up a month later. Elizabeth Bennett lived for thirty-six more years, passing away on April 20, 1830. Maria Bennett lived until 1870, married twice, and bore six children.
Cr for first American Caesarean section
Doctor Bennett refused to publicize the details of the surgery during his life.
He said other doctors would never believe that a woman could survive this hazardous operation, done in the backwoods of Virginia, and he was "damned if he"d give them a chance to call him a liar."
Because Doctor Bennett didn"t report the operation during his life, it was long believed the first successful American Caesarian section had been performed in 1827 by Doctor John Lambert in Ohio. Doctor.Lambert lived only ten miles from Doctor Bennett"s practice.
Doctor A. L. Knight, a boyhood neighbor of the Bennetts, remembered hearing the details of Maria"s birth when he was a youth. Doctor Knight collected eye-witness testimonies from Mistress
Hawkins and the surviving negro servant after Doctor Bennett"s death and published the story in The Southern Historical Magazine in 1892 as part of "The Life and Times of Doctor Jesse Bennett, Doctor of Medicine"
Doctor Bennett became active in civic affairs in the newly formed Mason County (now Mason County, West Virginia).
He was appointed Major of the Mason County Militia in 1804 and represented Mason County in the Virginia Assembly. Aaron Burr reportedly tried to enlist Doctor Bennett"s help with the Burr conspiracy for which Burr was charged with treason. Doctor Bennett refused to assist Aaron Burr and went on to serve the United States as an Army Surgeon in the War of 1812.
