and her brother, Fredrick Clayson, sailed to Alaska on July 30, 1897 to follow the discovery of gold. They were passengers on the George W. Elder, the first Portland ship that sailed to the Klondike region. The rest of Esther's family, consisting of her mother and three other siblings, followed in the coming year. After concluding her post graduate studies in Chicago in the spring of 1898, Esther also made the move to Alaska. While in Skagway, a cerebrospinal meningitis epidemic ensued; because there was no drug to treat the disease and no caretakers to monitor the patients, many fell victim to the disease. For the duration of the epidemic, both Esther and Emil used their medical school educations to provide care. After the epidemic ended, Esther moved back to Portland in June 1889 while Emil continued to follow the gold rush around Alaska and advertise his expertise as a physician. Europe Around the time of the birth of her son, Esther's mother and sisters moved back to Portland for school and work. Eventually Annie, Esther's mother, moved into her Portland home, allowing her to embark on a journey to Europe and Palestine in 1904; while in Vienna, she performed studies in various clinics. Annie gave Esther the opportunity to continue to practice medicine, be an advocate for women's suffrage, and a pioneer in the field of public health while also getting to be a mother. Lovejoy was very active during the First World War, where she used her efforts to study the effects of war and militarization on women. From 1917-1918, she traveled to France on the behalf of the Medical Women's National Association to study women and children in devastated areas. She found that many women were the victims of wartime violence in the form of rape, poverty, disease and dislocation. The war also sparked Lovejoy to publish a book and go on several speaking tours after traveling back to the United States; in her work, she advocated for equality between men and women through progressive action. While in France, she also worked with the Red Cross. Boards and affiliations Portland Board of Health Lovejoy was appointed to the Portland Board of Health by Harry Lane, the mayor of Portland in 1905. After two years she became the Portland City Health Officer, making her the first woman to lead a board of health in a major US city.