Dr. Sofie Deligath Herzog

Herzog's medicine began in a Vienna family of physicians. Born there in 1846, she married Moriz Herzog at fourteen and had fifteen children, eight of whom died in infancy. After the family emigrated she had to attend medical school again to be licensed in the United States, and she practiced in Hoboken before moving to Brazoria. She told the South Texas Medical Society she had removed fifteen bullets without losing a patient, and she wore a necklace of them. At her request she was buried with it.

What the plaque says

Dr. Sofie Deligath Herzog Austrian-born Sofie Deligath (1846-1925) wed Dr. Moriz Herzog at the age of 14 and in 1878 emigrated with her family to the U.S., where she attended the eclectic Medical College of the city of New York in May 1895. After the death of her husband, she moved to Brazoria with the family of her youngest daughter, Elfriede Marie Herzog Prell. one of the most colorful of a new class of professional women to emerge in Texas in the early twentieth century, at a time of limited opportunities, she became a successful local surgeon and civic leader. An eccentric individual with an independent spirit, Herzog pushed the boundaries of proper societal behavior for women at that time. As a skilled surgeon, though, she gained acceptance into several professional organizations, including the Texas Medical Association, the South Texas Medical Society – in which she was the first female member and later a Vice President – and the local Brazoria County Medical Association. Herzog further gained the respect of local citizens and colleagues in 1907 when she was hired as surgeon of the local line of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. In the course of her earlier work, she utilized handcars, locomotives, and other forms of speedy transportation to answer medical emergencies, and also introduced innovative techniques for bullet extraction. In 1909, she served as the only female railroad surgeon in the world. Railway officials once attempted to dismiss her on the premises of gender, but undaunted, Herzog replied they might do so only if they found her performance unsatisfactory, and so she remained. She had a prosperous 18-year career with the company and resigned at the age of 79. She died in 1925 after suffering a stroke. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 6.4 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 8.9 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.
• Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge — 16 mi
  Coastal prairie, salt marsh and bays between Freeport and Christmas Bay, where an auto tour along Big Slough passes wintering geese, ducks and wading birds in the tens of thousands.
• Brazos Bend State Park — 23 mi
  Oak and pecan bottomland, lakes and alligators on the Brazos River 45 miles from downtown Houston, with the museum's George Observatory in the woods.

More markers nearby

• Brazoria Townsite — steps away
• Don Carlos Barrett — steps away
• Site of Jane Long's Tavern — 0.2 mi
• Site of the Home of John Austin — 0.2 mi