Anna Hall Stewart was born March 29, 1853, in Saint Albans, Somerset County, Maine, the daughter of Randall and Josephine (Forbes) Stewart. By the time she was seven the family had moved to Burr Oak, Winesheik, Iowa. In the 1870 census Anna's occupation is listed as schoolteacher.
Anna graduated from the Winona State Normal school in Michigan in 1873. This institution prepared students for the teaching profession. Later she graduated from the University of Michigan, Department of Medicine and Surgery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She interned at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston. By 1881, she was a physician on the staff of the Battle Creek Sanatorium under the leadership of Dr. J. H. Kellogg.
The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, was originally founded on the health principles advocated by the Seventh Day Adventists. It opened in 1867 under the name of Western Health Reform Institute. Emphasizing the concepts of wellness, disease prevention, exercise and high grain vegetarian diet among other treatments this institute began drawing wealthy political and society patients. In a later move to separate it from the Seventh Day Adventist church the name was changed to the Battle Creek Sanatorium.
On April 1, 1889, in Clayburn, Michigan, Anna married Dr. Clayton Charles Flatt from Corydon, Pa. Dr. Clayton Flatt was the son of Morrison and Josephine (Forbes) Flatt. He was a graduate of the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, and in 1891 he graduated from the University of Michigan. At the time of their marriage Anna was 36 and Clayton was 25.
By 1891, the couple moved to Corydon, Pa., where both practiced as physicians. The couple had only one child, Althea Maria Flatt, who was born September 18, 1891, in Warren County. She was married to Porter W. Brown and the couple moved to California where they had one child, William Craig Browne. He was raised in California and later became a physician in Alabama. Sadly Althea suffered from Diabetes Mellitus and she passed away in Warren on July 29, 1917, at the age of 25.
By 1930, the couple had separated as Dr. Clayton Flatt is living with a housekeeper. Anna's residence has not been determined. By 1940, Dr. Anna Flatt was residing in The Napa Valley, Ca., and the 1940 census indicates she was widowed which is inaccurate as Dr. Clayton Flatt didn't die until 1948 and he was residing in Kinzua with a widowed housekeeper, Caroline Sutherland and he listed as married.
Dr. Anna Flatt died January 10, 1941, in Angwin, Napa County, Ca., at the age of 87. Dr. Clayton Flatt on April 5, 1941, married his housekeeper. He was 77 and she was approximately 63. Her name on his death certificate is Caroline Fluent Flatt which was her maiden name according to a Sutherland Family Bible.
Dr. Anna Hall Stewart Flatt can be considered on of the early pioneers of women physicians. The first female admitted to medical college in the United States was Elizabeth Blackwell. Although she applied to twenty nine colleges and was rejected she was finally accepted by Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York Although she graduated at the top of her class, Dr. Blackwell was not accepted by the medical community and she went to Europe for further studies. Back in New York in 1853, she and her sister Emily, who had also become a physician, established their own private practice. It was only 30 years after the first female receiving a degree to practice medicine that Anna Hall Stewart Flatt also graduated with a medical degree.