Sophie Josephine Herzog, MD

Sophie HERZOG, née DELIGATH: b. 14 Feb 1846, Wien - d. 21, July 1925 Houston, Texas, US

Basic birth data from IKG-Wien archives courtesy of www.genteam.at

Lfdnr 291884 Jahr 1846 Reihenzahl 2109 Code 1 Band Wien Familienname Deligat Vorname Sophie Eltern Adolf/Sinnek Maria

cf. death notice posted for brother Isidor DELIA in Neue Freie Presse, Wien, on 3 Jan 1892 (N.B. not listed ...)

Dr. Sophie Herzog Texas Historical Marker

Wikipedia Dr. Sofie Herzog - English
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Sofie Herzog
Portrait of Sofie Herzog
Born Dalia or Deligath
February 4, 1846
Vienna, Austria
Died July 21, 1925
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s) Physician and surgeon
Sofie Herzog (née Dalia, Delia or Deligath,[1] February 4, 1846 – July 21, 1925) was an early Texas physician and was the first woman to work as the head surgeon in the American rail industry. She was the first woman in Brazoria to own a car and a telephone and developed her method of bullet removal.

Biography
Herzog was born in Vienna, Austria, and her father was a doctor.[2] Her father was one of many other doctors in the family.[3] When she was fourteen, she married August (or Moritz)[4][5] Herzog who was also a physician.[6] Together, they would have fifteen children, though eight died in infancy.[2] They emigrated to the United States in 1886, settling in New York City where August had taken a job in the United States Naval Hospital.[6][7] In New York, she started studying to become a doctor and finished her training in Austria.[6] In 1871, she earned her midwifery certificate in Austria.[3] Herzog went on to graduate from the Eclectic Medical College in 1894.[3] She practiced medicine for six years in Austria and for nine years in Hoboken, New Jersey, where she had a medical office.[6][8] In 1894, Herzog's youngest child, Elfriede, married a man from Brazoria.[8] After Herzog's husband died in 1895, she moved to Brazoria to be closer to her daughter.[6]

In Brazoria, she was one of the first people to own a car and have a telephone.[9] She also built her own home, where she also treated patients of all races and began to ride horses astride, wearing split skirts.[3][10] Herzog developed her method, using gravity, for extracting bullets from gunshot wounds.[10] This method of removing bullets caught the attention of the South Texas Medical Society (STMS), who invited her to speak at their conference.[11] She later had a necklace made out of twenty-four bullets she successfully extracted and wore it often.[10] She would eventually be buried with the necklace.[2] She also kept records of the births of children she had delivered and by the time she was 70, had overseen 1,733 births in Brazoria alone.[12] In 1897, Herzog became the first woman to become a member of STMS.[13] She also was known for attending every semi-annual meeting of the group.[14]

Herzog bought The Jefferson Hotel, which was located across from her office.[10][2] The hotel became a community center and provided housing for famous visitors to the city.[2] She also opened a library and built an Episcopal Church after changing her religion from Catholicism due to a "dispute with a priest over the condition of the Catholic Cemetery."[1] Herzog had wanted to clean up the Catholic Cemetery, but many protesters did not want the cemetery tampered with in any way.[15]

In 1905, she was hired by the railroad commission board for the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway.[13] The eastern officials of the railroad found out that a woman had been hired, and asked her to quit; Herzog refused, saying that they could fire her if she failed to do her job.[2] Working for the railroad as the first (and only) woman working as a railroad surgeon made her famous in the United States.[16][17] She remained with the railroad until her retirement a few months before she died.[2]

Herzog joked in a 1911 newspaper profile "if you can find a husband for me, I can support one. He need not do anything except call me 'honey' and 'sugar plum'".[16] She remarried in 1913 to the owner of Ellersly Plantation, Colonel Marion Huntington, and both parties filed prenuptial agreements to retain separate control of their properties.[1] Herzog added his last name to hers on her business cards,[18] moved into his house, and commuted to her office in her Ford car.[19]

Herzog died a few months after having a stroke in a Houston hospital on July 21, 1925.[18] Dr. Sophie Herzog

References[edit]
Citations[edit]
^ Jump up to:a b c Pekar, Dortha Riggs (May 2004). "Dr. Sofie Herzog". Brazoria Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Silverthorne, Elizabeth (15 June 2010). "Herzog, Sofie Dalia". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Penland 2016, p. 39.
^ Fowler, Gene (February 2012). "Dr.Sofie Herzog". Texas Co-op Power Magazine. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
^ Radowick, Debra (5 December 2002). "Woman uncovers clues to legendary physician's life". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e "Dr. Sofie Herzog". Texas State Library. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
^ "Woman Railroad Doctor". The Coffeyville Daily Journal. 1909-12-10. p. 5. Retrieved 2017-10-26 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to:a b Pekar, Dortha R. (1999-02-19). "Dr. Sophie's Office". The Facts. p. 21. Retrieved 2017-10-26 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Pekar, Dortha R. (1999-02-19). "Dr. Sofie". The Facts. p. 26. Retrieved 2017-10-26 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Penland 2016, p. 40.
^ Penland 2016, p. 40-41.
^ "Woman, 70 Years Old Is Noted Railroad Surgeon". Muncie Evening Press. 1920-12-01. p. 11. Retrieved 2017-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to:a b Penland 2016, p. 41.
^ "South Texas, Medical Society in Meeting". The Galveston Daily News. 1911-12-15. p. 9. Retrieved 2017-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Silverthorne & Fulgham 1997, p. 77.
^ Jump up to:a b "Today's American Woman". The Tacoma Times. 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 2017-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Texas Woman is the Only Railroad Surgeon in America". El Paso Herald. 1910. p. 9. Retrieved 2017-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jump up to:a b Silverthorne & Fulgham 1997, p. 78.
^ Goldthwaite, Carmen (2012-10-02). Texas Dames: Sassy and Savvy Women Throughout Lone Star History. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781614237099.
Sources[edit]
Penland, Rachel (July 2016). "Sofie Herzog: The First Woman Surgeon Breaking Boundaries in Texas" (PDF). Houston History Magazine. 13 (3): 39–41.
Silverthorne, Elizabeth; Fulgham, Geneva (1997). Women Pioneers in Texas Medicine. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9780890967898.
External links[edit]
Dr. Sofie Deligrath Herzog (Texas Historical Marker)
Sofie Herzog at Find a Grave

Timeline of Texas Women's History
She had a chapter in the book: More Than Petticoats, Remarkable Texas Women by Greta Anderson, Mother Lode of Stories.
Pages 43-52
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Born in Vienna Austria in 1846, Sofia Deligath was the daughter of a physician in Vienna, Austria. Married at the age of 14 to Dr. Moritz Herzog (another Vienna physician), they had 15 children including three sets of twins. Eight of these children died in infancy

The family immigrated to the United States when her husband Moritz Herzog accepted a position at the United States Naval Hospital in New York City. Sofia returned at some point returned to Vienna for further study and earned her medical degree from the University of Graz. Returning to the United States, she practiced medicine in Hoboken, New Jersey for nine years. Her husband, Moritz, died about 1895.

After moving to Brazoria County, Texas, to join her youngest daughter, Elfrieda Marie, and her family, Sofia married Capt Marion Huntington in 1913.

Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929
Name: Sofie Herzog Huntington
Birth Date: 1846
Birth Place: Austria
Death Date: 23 Aug 1924
Death Place: Perry Landing, TX
Type Practice: Eclectic
Practice Specialities: Brazoria, TX, Jun 21, 1915, Perry Landing, TX, Sep 18, 1922
Licenses: TX, 1907
Practice Dates Places: Brazoria, TX, Jun 21, 1915, Perry Landing, TX, Sep 18, 1922
Medical School: Eclectic Medical College of City of New York, New York, 1895, (G), AUST-07 Universitaet Wien, Medizinische Fakultaet, Wien, 1894, (G)
Education: Univ. of Graz, Vienna, Austria
Death Notice Info: Brazoria, TX, Jan 5, 1927, Dr. C. C. Humpil;
Comment Cause Death: This individual was a member of the American Medical Association.
Cause of Death: paralysis

Household Members:
Name Age
Moritz Herzog 47
Josephene Herzog 35
Eugenia, 13, daughter
Alfred, 11, son
Stefine, 9, son
Nolda, 5, daughter
Elfiede, 3, daughter
Source: 1880 US Federal Census, Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey, USA

Note: There is a fascinting story regarding this lady in the 2018-04-07 Houston Chronicle eEdition written by Joe Holly.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 10 2023, 1:27:39 UTC