A likely contemporary copy of a letter written by Sarah B. Capron in Manamadurai, India, to unidentified recipients on 1865 December 26 and 28. Sarah was in southern India, with her two daughters, practicing medicine and treating residents of the town, although her medical training was minimal. She states that "more knowledge of medical services would save me a vast amount of care ... when I go to America, I must have some Hospital experience & practice, somehow" (page 1). She then narrates a typical day for her, telling of the various patients she treats, including a man with stomach pain, a woman with knee pain, a young boy who was gored by a cow, a man with ear discharge, a woman with eye pain, children with dysentery, a beggar with sores, and an infant with lung congestion.
Sarah Brown Capron was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, in 1828, the daughter of Henry Brown Hooker and Martha (Chickering) Hooker. The family subsequently moved to Falmouth, Massachusetts. Sarah graduated from Wheaton Seminary, and married William Capron on October 1, 1856. Over the course of their marriage, the Caprons had 3 children. On November 24, 1856, the Caprons sailed to Sri Lanka as missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission. Arriving in Chennai in March of 1857, they worked in Tiruppuvanum and Manamadurai for the next sixteen years. From 1872 to 1875, the Caprons visited America, returning to the field in January 1875. The Reverend Capron died the following year on October 6, 1876, of heart disease. Sarah Capron stayed in India for ten years, before returning to America in 1886. She remained active in religious work until her death in 1919.
