The First Registered Nurse In The United States: Josephine (Bradham) Burton

For over a hundred years the story and even the name of the first registered nurse (RN) in the United States has been inaccurately reported and shrouded in mystery. Nurse Mary Rose Batterham went to her grave in 1927, 24 years after she registered her nursing credentials with the Buncombe County Clerk of Court, mistakenly believing and widely honored as the first RN in the United States. Meanwhile Josephine (Bradham) Burton, who was most likely truly the nation’s first registered nurse, probably never knew she deserved that accolade.