Introduction to Elizabeth Coates Paschall

 

 Elizabeth Coates Paschall (c. 1680s – 1768)

Elizabeth Coates Paschall, a widowed Quaker merchant in Philadelphia, became a respected community healer whose medical manuscript records dozens of remedies, observations, and experiments. She grew herbs, blended medicines, and often succeeded where male physicians failed. Living at the height of the Enlightenment, Paschall embraced trial, observation, and reasoned care — all while balancing commerce, family, and faith. Her work stands as a rare, surviving example of a colonial woman’s voice in scientific medicine.

Elizabeth Coates Paschall, Quaker Merchant & Healer in Philadelphia

 

Elizabeth Coates Paschall, Quaker Merchant & Healer in Philadelphia

Elizabeth Coates Paschall lived in Philadelphia during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, part of a Quaker community that emphasized literacy, introspection, and practical service. Born into the Coates family, prominent in Pennsylvania’s early development, Elizabeth married into the Paschall family, another well-known Quaker lineage. Widowed relatively young, she became both head of her household and a trusted community resource for healing and health advice.

Unlike many women healers whose knowledge remained oral, Elizabeth recorded her treatments, trials, and observations in a medical manuscript notebook she kept over decades. In it, she cataloged over 130 remedies, ranging from cough cures and wound salves to birth preparations and fever treatments. The manuscript, discovered in the 20th century and preserved in historical archives, reveals not only her skill but her methodological approach to medicine.

Her remedies often mixed traditional English herbcraft with ingredients obtained through the Atlantic trade — including cinnamon, nutmeg, Barbados aloe, sassafras, senna, rhubarb root, and Indian tobacco. She treated both family and neighbors, Quakers and non-Quakers alike, and was often called upon in cases where professional male physicians either failed or proved too costly.

Deeply influenced by Enlightenment ideas, Paschall engaged in experimentation and adaptation, adjusting dosages and methods based on results. She annotated her manuscript with marginal notes on efficacy, occasional failures, and alternatives. She also documented a strong understanding of women’s health, including remedies for miscarriage, menstruation pain, and childbirth aftercare.

Elizabeth’s Quaker values also shaped her approach to illness as both physical and spiritual. She emphasized cleanliness, diet, and calm, writing often about the importance of rest and care, not just prescriptions. The community-centric, empirical, and highly literate world of 18th-century Philadelphia offered women like her rare space to contribute to scientific practice — though she was not formally recognized by medical institutions of her day.

Elizabeth Coates Paschall died in 1768, leaving behind a rare document that bridges domestic medicine and Enlightenment science, and offers a woman’s reasoned, firsthand contribution to early American medical history.

A Bit of Bibliography

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. Basic Books, 1983. — Discusses women’s domestic labor, including medical care in early modern households.

Forman, S. Elise. Herbs and Health in Colonial Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Heritage, vol. 10, no. 2, 1984, pp. 18–25. Discusses Pennsylvania herbal traditions, referencing Paschall’s contributions.

Leavitt, Judith Walzer. Women and Health in America: Historical Readings. University of Wisconsin Press, 1999. — Includes selections from Paschall’s manuscript and discussion of women’s medical manuscripts.

Morgan, Jennifer L. Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. \Provides broader context for women’s reproductive medicine in the colonial world, including Quaker women.

Paschall, Elizabeth Coates. Medical Recipes and Notes Manuscript, c. 1720–1768. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.  Original handwritten volume of Paschall’s remedies, held in HSP archives.

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785–1812. Vintage Books, 1990. — Offers essential comparative insight into women’s healing documentation during a similar period.

Mama Gracie c 1760 - c 1810 near Payne’s Prairie in Spanish Florida.

Healer Mama Gracie of Alachua Prairie (c. 1760 – after 1810)

Mama Gracie, a Black Seminole woman, said to be of Gullah and Creek descent, was known for her “root bundles” and strong teas in the villages near Payne’s Prairie in Spanish Florida.  The Alachua Prairie (now Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida) was an important location for the Seminole people during this period, known for its vast savannas and abundance of wild cattle. The area was initially settled by a band of Creeks led by Cowkeeper, who established the town of Cuscowilla (or Alachua) and became a key figure in the formation of the Seminole identity, The Seminoles at Alachua amassed large herds of cattle from stray Spanish livestock, playing a vital role in their economy and culture,

Cowkeeper's son, King Payne, succeeded him as leader of the Alachua Seminoles in the 1700s, Those Seminoles settled in Payne's Town, located on the south side of the prairie, was the last Seminole settlement in north Florida and was eventually burned by American soldiers in 1813 following conflicts with American interests during the Patriot War, Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of the Alachua culture in the region during the precolumbian era, before 1492, and at the time of Spanish contact.

Search results do mention several prominent Native American women leaders throughout history, including some from the 18th century and Florida. Notable figures include Nancy Ward of the Cherokee, who led her people to victory in the Battle of Taliwa, according to PowWows.com. Another is Betty Mae Jumper, the first chairwoman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Paynes Prairie is also known as Alachua Savannah, which was was a stronghold for the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe under Chief Ahaya the Cowkeeper. During the late 1700s, the Alachua region of Florida was primarily inhabited by Native American groups, particularly the Timucua and later the Seminoles. European contact, which began much earlier, had already significantly impacted the indigenous population through disease and conflict, according to Study.com and the Florida Department of State.

During the 1700s, the Seminole people, like many Indigenous groups, had a holistic approach to health and healing, intertwining physical well-being with spiritual and ceremonial practices. They psassed on their medical healing technques through oral histoties during their life in North America.

Medicine Men and Women played a crucial role in Seminole society, often acting as healers and spiritual guides. They possessed a deep understanding of medicinal plants, herbs, and animals, passed down through generations. 

The Seminole people utilized a vast array of plants found in their native environment for healing purposes. Some traditional examples include:

Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis): Used for colds, flu, and skin infections.

Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens): Berries used to treat urinary tract infections, prostate problems, and inflammation.

Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria): Used for its stimulating and mild diuretic effects in ceremonies and for various ailments.

Sumac (Rhus spp.): Used in traditional remedies.

Passionflower (Passiflora spp.): Used for its calming effects.

Button Snakeroot (Eryngium yuccifolium): Used in various medicinal preparations.

Black Gum Bark (Nyssa sylvatica): Used in traditional medicine.

Blackberry (Rubus spp.): Berries eaten raw, cooked, or dried and used medicinally.

Willow Bark (Salix spp.): Chewed to soothe aches and pains, containing salicin, the precursor to aspirin. 

Called upon for births, fevers, snakebites, and troubled spirits, she drew on African, Creek, and Spanish herbal practices. Her reputation reached even the garrisons at St. Augustine. Living where cultures collided, Mama Gracie became a living archive of diasporic and native healing traditions.

Seminole women such as Mama Gracie emerged as powerful herbalists and midwives in the late 18th century, born of intertwined African, Indigenous, and Spanish roots. Mama Gracie’s knowledge likely came from her Gullah mother and Creek elders who migrated into Florida. Living near Alachua Prairie—home to Black and Seminole settlements—she grew yaupon holly, blackberry root, cane lily, and Spanish moss poultices, which she prepared in gourds or clay bowls.

She worked closely with Creek women in rituals of sweat, smoke, and drink, and maintained a healing garden of both native and introduced species like calamus, rosemary, and bitter melon. Her influence reached beyond healing: she was a spiritual guide, crop advisor, and ritual cook.

Spanish friars occasionally recorded visits to women “de los negros cimarrones que curan con raíces” (“of the maroon blacks who heal with roots”). Mama Gracie’s legacy lived in the root doctoring traditions carried by later Black Seminole communities into Mexico and Oklahoma.

While specific historical accounts from the 1700s detailing Seminole midwives and female healers may be scarce, the prevalence of midwifery in Native American cultures during that period strongly suggests that Seminole communities would have relied on the expertise of midwives for their healthcare needs. These women would have been revered and respected within their communities for their knowledge and crucial role in welcoming new life and supporting the well-being of mothers and families

Bibliography

Cooper, K.C. Cherokee Women in Charge: Female Power and Leadership in American Indian Nations of Eastern North America. University of Georgia Press, 2022.

Brown, J.B. “Midwifery and Herbal Practice among Southeastern Indians.” Journal of Appalachian Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 2004. 

Carriger, S.P. Jr. Yaupon Drink: A Medicine Bundle in the Atlantic World. PhD Dissertation, University of Tennessee, 2020.

Chekelelee, E. Eastern Band Cherokee Women: Cultural Resilience and Herbal Traditions. 2005.

Cooper, K.C. Cherokee Women in Charge: Female Power and Leadership in American Indian Nations of Eastern North America. University of Georgia Press, 2022

Croom, E. M., Jr. "Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens)." Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements, edited by P. Coates et al., Marcel Dekker, 2005

Galgano, Robert C. Feast of Souls: Indians and Spaniards in the Seventeenth-Century Missions of Florida and New Mexico. ProQuest Dissertations, 2003.

Silpa, F.B. Historical Archaeology Research Designs for Gamble Plantation, Ellenton, Florida. Florida State University, 2008.

Snow, Alice M., and Susan E. Stans. Healing Plants: Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians. University Press of Florida, 2001.

Strang, Cameron B. “Imperial Science and African-Diasporic Knowledge in Spanish Florida.” Isis, vol. 105, no. 4, 2014.

Strang, Cameron B. Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500–1850. University of North Carolina Press, 2018

Sturtevant, William. The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices. Yale University, 1954.