Führer, Charlotte (1834–1907)

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Führer, Charlotte (1834–1907)

German midwife. Name variations: Charlotte Heise; Charlotte Fuhrer or Fuehrer. Born Charlotte Heise, 1834, in Hanover, Germany; died Nov 5, 1907, in Montreal, Canada; m. Ferdinand Adolph Führer, May 1853; children: 6.

After marriage, immigrated to US but returned to Germany when the family business in NY failed; studied with an obstetrician at a Hamburg maternity hospital (1856–59); immigrated to Montreal with family (1859) and established a successful midwifery practice; writings include The Mysteries of Montreal: Being Recollections of a Female Physician (1881), which warned against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and advocated Victorian values about sexuality.