Rebekah Dulaney Peterkin is an American philanthropist who founded the first circle of the International Order of the King"s Daughters and Sons in Virginia, and then the in Richmond.
Background
Born in Berryville, Virginia as youngest child of Review Joshua Peterkin of Baltimore, Maryland (1814-1892) and his wife Elizabeth Howard Hanson (1820-1910), Rebekah Peterkin had a brother, future West Virginia bishop George W. Peterkin and a sister, Mary Beall Peterkin (1842-1857).
During the American Civil War, she assisted her mother and Captain Sally Tompkins in Richmond hospitals.
After the war, and the evacuation fire which destroyed much of Richmond and the livelihoods of many Richmonders, she grew keenly aware of the problems of members of her father"s parish, Saint James Church, many of whom could not afford medical or hospital care.
Career
Six years later, after she convinced the owner of a local boarding house (a mansion before the war) to allow the organization to use the building rent free and a physician to donate his services. The group secured supplies and established to serve those unable to afford medical care. Her brother, the Rt.
Review
George West. Peterkin, donated an alms basin to Christ Church (Easton, Maryland) in her memory in 1896. The hospital she founded still exists in Richmond, transferring to a larger building in 1892, rebuilt in 1965 (with a room named in her honor) and now operating as a rehabilitation facility. The hospital stopped its former practice of never sending patients bills when it converted to a rehabilitation facility in 1991.
Membership
After the war, and the evacuation fire which destroyed much of Richmond and the livelihoods of many Richmonders, she grew keenly aware of the problems of members of her father"s parish, Saint James Church, many of whom could not afford medical or hospital care.