History

A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1875-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Part One

Martha Moore Ballard is identified as an American diarist, healer and midwife. Between the years1785 and 1812, she kept a diary that detailed her daily domestic life and arduous medical practice work. The diary contains 9,965 entries and was written for 27 years. Historians did not recognize her diary for many years because they believed it was ordinary and repetitive in nature. This however changed when one historian decided to write a book based on the recordings of the diary, after conducting a research for eight years. This historian is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich who produced the book A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard based on her diary, 1785–1812, which will be reviewed in the paper. The author’s thesis in this book encompasses the provision of the role of women in local market economy and the household, as well as the nature of sexual relations and marriage and the role of men in the early American Republic.

Part Two

Every chapter of the book provides a comprehensive examination of one aspect of the women’s life during the last years of the 18^th century. The beginning of every chapter is graced by a passage from the diary of Martha Ballard. After the passage, the author embarks on explaining to the reader the inferences that could be made from the passage. In this case, she does not only rely on material from the diary only but also from the materials she had gathered explaining the aspects of life in the American republic of the 18^th century. The author asserts that in the 18^th century American Republic, the role of men was superior to that of women. This is because the society was only run by the men. The men could be able to be accorded with such titles as Justice of peace, selectman, judge, tax-collector and they were the only people who could be allowed to be selected as a jury.

As for the women, they still held different roles in the community but these were limited to the female community and the home. Their titles were defined in accordance to the services they provided for the society. Such titles included dressmakers, after nurse, midwife and bakers. Their titles were never acknowledged officially because they were unofficial in nature. The author asserts that Hallowell and the whole American Republic was healthy based on the tallying of births and deaths included in Martha’s diary. She describes midwifery as the common practice of the women because it was meant to aid women during child birth. During that period, white squares represented the businesses of women while the blue checkered cloth represented the businesses of men. This closely shows that the worlds of men and women rarely intermingled.

The author provides writing about the wife of Reverend Isaac Foster, whom most historians neglected in their comprehensive writings about the reverend. The author brings out the fact that religion at that time was divided between the liberal and the strict Calvinist. Every town was only allowed one leader. Based on the marriages of two of the Ballard children, the author focuses on the marriage customs of the early American Republic. In accordance to the many writings of that time, many people believe that courtship and marriage was strict. The author however, provides insight on the fact that young people chose their spouses, during courtship they were usually not supervised and hence engagement in pre-marital sex was a common practice.

The author brings out the aspect of violence through Jonathan. He had a very bad temper that always made his mother very tired during her old age. This is the same aspect of violence that was exhibited by most of the young men of that time. Crime is another aspect brought out by the author. In this case, she focuses on the case of Ephraim who cheated in his service as a tax man. He was arrested and even fined by the courts. This clearly indicates that crime was not a new thing in that period of time. The author also focuses on the importance of the midwives in the community. This is because Martha was a midwife and through the recordings of her work, the reader can be able to arrive at different conclusions based on the health of the community and the practices that were used in the medical practice of that period.

The author in this book makes different main points. The first main point she makes is the fact that men were superior to women in the community of that period. The second main point is that crime and violence were in existence in the community of the early American Republic. The third point she makes is that women made the best midwifes of that time because the methods they used were superior to the methods employed by men. The fourth point she makes in the book is that the marriage and courtship customs of that period were not as strict as many historians tried to make them. This is because the young people of that time were allowed to choose their spouses. The fifth point she makes is that pre-marital sex was prevalent in that period as courtship was not supervised.

The last point she makes in the book is that though the roles of women were fundamental in the society, in most cases they were not recognized in any official status. The book was written after the author had conducted a research for eight years. The book does not only include the passages from Martha’s diary but it also contains evidence from outside sources. This clearly indicates that the author provides enough evidence to back up her main points. In terms of crime, she uses the case of Ephraim as a good example for the existence of crime. She uses the midwifery duties of Martha to show the importance of the midwives in the community of that period. To bring out the fact that men were superior to the women, she compares the official titles of men and the unofficial titles of the women of that time.

From that perspective, the reader can be convinced of the fact that the author does not only provide main points in her book, but she also provides considerable information to back up the main points made. The author provides considerable information to convince the reader that the main points she makes in the book are fundamental for understanding the community of that era. The information and evidence provided however might not work well towards convincing the history readers about the main points made in the book. This is because the historical readers might come up with their own refutals based on some evidence provided and for this reason the author should have provided comprehensive evidence that cannot be refuted by any type of a reader.

Part Three

The work of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard based on her diary, 1785–1812 can be considered to be very informative because the author comes up with some facts that have not been focused on in historical writings. Historical writings try to convince the reader that the marriage and courtship customs of the early American republic of the 18^th century was strict. Ulrich brings out the fact that this information was misleading because courtship was unsupervised during that period. Ulrich conducted a research of eight years before compiling this informative work hence, this work can be described as a great work based on the research that was injected into it.

The main points brought out by the author in the book include marriage and courtship, crime and violence, role of women and men, midwifery and pre-marital sex. She has provided enough evidence to back up these points but she should have provided more evidence to counter the refutals that might be brought up by history readers. In conclusion, the evidence provided in the book asserts the author’s thesis, which aims at the provision of the role of women in local market economy and the household, as well as the nature of sexual relations and marriage and the role of men in the early American Republic.