Underwood, Lillias (1851–1921)

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Underwood, Lillias (1851–1921)

American physician and missionary. Name variations: Lillias Stirling Horton; Stirling Horton. Born Lillias Stirling Horton, June 21, 1851, in Albany, NY; died Oct 29, 1921, in Seoul, Korea; dau. of James Mandeville Horton (hardware merchant) and Matilda (McPherson) Horton; Woman's Medical College of Chicago, MD, 1887; m. Horace Grant Underwood (missionary), Mar 13, 1889 (died Oct 1916); children: 1 son.

Volunteered for Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; traveled to Korea to supervise women's department and dispensary for government hospital and to serve as personal physician to Queen Min (1888); due to close association with Min and royal court, was occasionally involved in Korea's political turmoil; with husband, created Frederick Underwood Shelter to treat people with infectious diseases (1893); published Fifteen Years Among the Top-knots (1904), With Tommy Tompkins in Korea (1905), and biography of husband, Underwood of Korea (1918).