author
Ch. (Charlotte) Führer
1834–1907
A German-born midwife who built a long career in Montreal, she turned decades of intimate, dramatic experience into a memoir that offers a vivid look at 19th-century city life. Her writing is remembered for blending medical work, social observation, and startling human stories.
1 Audiobook
The Mysteries of Montreal: Being Recollections of a Female Physician
by Ch. (Charlotte) Führer
About the author
Born in Hanover in 1834 as Johanne Louise Charlotte Heise, she later became known as Charlotte Führer. She married Ferdinand Adolph Führer, spent time in the United States and Germany, trained in midwifery, and eventually settled in Montreal, where she worked for many years as a midwife and "doctress."
Her best-known book, The Mysteries of Montreal: Being Recollections of a Female Physician, drew on more than three decades of practice in the city. Presented as memoir-like tales, it mixes medical experience with stories of scandal, hardship, secrecy, and survival, giving modern readers an unusual window into everyday life in 19th-century Montreal.
Führer died in Montreal on November 5, 1907. Today she is remembered not only for her medical work, but also for leaving behind a rare firsthand account of women’s health, family life, and the hidden dramas of her era.