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Cora Smith Eaton

American physician, suffragist, mountaineer and botanical collector (1867-1939)

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ19667240
Source-derived summary

Cora Eliza Smith Eaton King (September 7, 1867 – November 21, 1939) was an American suffragist, physician and mountaineer. She was the first woman in North Dakota licensed to practice medicine. She was a prominent member of Washington's suffrage movement.

Early life

Cora Eliza Smith was born on September 7, 1867, in Rockford, Illinois, to Colonel Eliphaz Smith and Sara Barnes. Her family moved to the Dakota Territory and settled in Grand Forks. She attended the National School of Elocution and Oratory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she took up the cause of women's suffrage.

After her graduation in 1886, she returned to the Dakota Territory to study at the University of North Dakota. While studying at the university, she taught arithmetic, geography, spelling and handwriting. She was also the first woman to teach physical education at the University of North Dakota, as she taught a course on girl’s calisthenics. She graduated in 1889 with a Bachelor of Science as a member of the university's first graduating class.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Cora Smith Eaton” as american physician, suffragist, mountaineer and botanical collector (1867-1939). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1867, 1939, 1886, 1889—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1867-09-07. The account is most persuasive where Cora, Smith and Eaton can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as american physician, suffragist, mountaineer and botanical collector (1867-1939). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19667240. VIAF identifies the subject as 33998951. The Library of Congress control number is no00030765. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1867, 1939, 1886 and 1889.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Cora Smith Eaton”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Cora Smith Eaton primary sources, Cora Smith Eaton archive and Cora research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cora Smith Eaton”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Cora Smith Eaton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.