âPricklyâ Jayne Knight, M.D. ThirtyâThree Years Old. The Healer .
âI bet sleeping with her is like sleeping on a gotâdamn cactus.â
Not that any of the men in Janestown would know.
In 1820, Jayne was born to Scarlett and Dr. Benjamin Knight, Quakers who had left their community behind to make a life for themselves out in the new territories. They settled in Janestown, taking a house that, while it was easily the largest of the estates in town, needed quite a few repairs to make it a real home. Scarlett worked as a midwife and Benjamin as the townâs Doctor. Janestown was quite lucky to snag a formally educated doctor, as those are few and far between the further west you go. He was in such high demand in fact that he frequently was called to the neighboring towns to attend people as needed. Making Dr. Ben Knight a very busy man.
He was happy to do it though, and often ended up doing it for very little. The people in Janestown were not particularly wealthy. But if making ends meet was difficult, Jayne was very unaware of it. Her childhood was often happy and fairly peaceful, she is fortunate enough to look upon her childhood fondly. Others were far less fortunate than she.
Jayne was raised with Quaker values, which included things like equality of the sexes, abolitionism, and caring for your fellow man, but attended the town church as everyone else did. Though there was a lack of Quaker community in Janestown, Jayne internalized those values and kept a written correspondence with her cousins in Cincinnati, who she got to spend a few summers with. Besides this, the Knight family were regular attendees to the local church and were always heavily involved in the community.
Jayne attended school in Janestown just as every other child did, but also received an additional education from her mother and father. It was no secret that by her teen years Jayne was clearly on the path towards taking after her parents. She excelled in school, even if she did not necessarily excel in making friends. She had a few, but interacting with people just never seemed to come as easily to her as it did to others. She was very shy when she was young, and did not possess half the confidence she does now.
Plenty of people, even women, take apprenticeships under older physicians formally educated and otherwise, but the lack of legal degree that a man could easily attain always bothered Jayne. She would never measure up to her father even if he taught her everything he knew, not without the legal right to put the initials M.D. after her name. It would prove to bother her for years, till she was successful in getting those initials.
In 1838, Hannah Blackwell, Dr. Ben Knightâs sister, became widowed. Luckily, her strong Quaker community and the fact that she and her eldest daughters were all teachers kept the family afloat. There was little need for intervention from the Knight family, though Jayne had half hoped they might move out here to live with them. She would have appreciated the company. But it was not to be. Soon after, grave misfortune hit the Knight family as well, Mrs. Scarlett Knight became violently ill and died within a day.
This is where things took a turn for the worse. Jayneâs father did not take his wifeâs passing well, at all. He stopped attending church, fell into depression, and took to drinking. Jayne began taking the bulk of his responsibilities, attempting to make it look like he was still a competent doctor by assisting him. She had to figure out the bills, taxes, how he got his supply of medicine and many other things very quickly. It is thanks to her efforts that the good Doctor did not fall into disgrace and malpractice. It was during these years that Jayne began to harden and grow confident out of necessity. Plenty of scoundrels were willing to take advantage of she and her father, and Jayne had to buck up.
In 1847, Jayneâs cousin Elizabeth Blackwell wrote to her, telling her that she had been accepted into Geneva College in New York as a medical student. This was historic news, as Elizabeth was to become the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree and become a Doctor. She wanted Jayne to apply and join her, as she knew that Jayne wanted to become a Doctor too. But Jayne couldnât, how could she? Her father desperately needed her and if she were to leave him to attend college, no matter how much she wanted to, she was frightened of what might become of him.
Jayne might never have become who she is today if her father hadnât found the letter, he also might still be amongst the living. But life is full of mights, what ifs and could have beens.
Her father and she argued for what seemed like a week over it, him insisting that she go, sometimes saying hurtful things like him not wanting her there anymore. The shouting and abuse did not sway Jayne, in the end her father had to invoke the memory of her mother against her in order to win. He knew that Jayne should have been to some womenâs college by now, should have been married, and she was putting herself on hold to take care of him. Her mother would have wanted her to go to New York and do what she had not done in her lifetime, for both herself and to support her cousinâs efforts. She had never seen her father cry in shame before.
Jayne enrolled the next year, and graduated in 1850 top of her class, the second woman to become a Doctor in the United States. Unfortunately, her father did not live to see her accomplish this, he died a few months before her graduation. Her extended family traveled to Janestown to take care of the body.
Grief drew her back to her home, she intended to sell the house and travel with her cousin to see where they could find work in a formal hospital. But when Dr. Jayne arrived she found that a charlatan had moved into town in her fatherâs absence, which presumably extended beyond his deathbed considering he died of alcohol poisoning. A so called genius was selling the people of Janestown tonics and remedies that claimed to cure all manner of things. Furious, Dr. Jayne Knight went to the Sheriffâs office and gave Sheriff Filch a piece of her mind for allowing this scoundrel to hoodwink the townâs residents. He pointed out the lack of town physician, and that this man was the closest theyâd got in quite a while. She along with the Sheriff ran the charlatan out of town, and Jayne Knight M.D. stayed. Janestown was no longer without a physician.
Constitution;Â Five.
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Strength; Two.
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Intelligence; Eight.
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Perception; Five.
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Charisma; Two.
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Luck; Three.
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