Mary Breckinridge was an American nurse who started the Frontier Nursing Service in the Appalachian region of Kentucky, in order to provide health care to poor people who lived in remote mountain settlements. Breckinridge also founded the first school in America that trained and certified midwifes. Her efforts were instrumental in reducing the high infant and maternal mortality rates in pre World War II Appalachia.

Mary Breckinridge was born in Kentucky on Feb. 16, 1881. Her father, Clifton Breckinridge, was a US Congressman, and a diplomat to Russia under President Cleveland. Her grandfather, John Cabell Breckinridge, had been Vice President of the United States under Buchanan, and Secy. of War under Jefferson Davis. Breckinridge had three siblings, a brother Carson, born in 1878, a sister Lees born in 1884, and brother Clif born in 1895.

Raised amidst wealth and high society, Breckinridge traveled extensively in her youth. She grew up in her mother's...