ABSTRACT

On December 7, 1793, a midwife named Martha Ballard sat down in Hallowell, Maine, to record the day's events. She wrote: "At Whites. His wife was deliverd at 12 O Clock of a daughter and I was Calld back to Mr Parkers. His Lady was delivrd at 9 hour 30 minutes of a daughter. I am some fatagud. Son Town here." We know what happened that December day because of three remarkable occurrences. First, Ballard maintained a daily record of her activities, not just in 1793 but for 27 years. Second, the women in her family preserved her diary, handing it down from generation to generation. Third, the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich recognized the diary's significance and published a book about it, A Midwife's Tale. Thus a female chain spanning two centuries has provided us with a rare window on the lives of rural women during the final years of the eighteenth century.

Martha Ballard's diary, 1793:

"Nov. 18: At Capt Meloys. His Lady in Labour. Her women Calld (it was a sever storm of rain. Cleard of with snow). My patient delivered at 8 hour 5 minute Evening of a fine daughter. Her attendants Mrss Cleark, Duttun, Sewall, & myself. We had an Elligant supper and I tarried all night.

Nov. 19: Clear. I returnd home after dineing. Revd Mr Turner and Esq Cony supt here. I was Calld to Mr Parkers at 11 Evening."

from Laurel Ulrich, A Midwifes Tale