Authors Intent: A midwife's Tale

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has a strong background and interest in history. Mrs. Ulrich gained her bachelors degree in history at the University of Utah, her masters in English Literature at Simmons college and her Ph D in history at the University of New Hampshire. Professor Ulrich is now the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History. Her books all center around women and their role in society during Early America. Her love of history and research and interest in exposing the roles of women in early American society have led to interesting nonfiction works enlightening us. Professor Ulrich's main interest in Martha Ballard's diary was to define the role of women in the late 18th early 19th centuries. Her authors intent was to inform and enlighten us of the roles of women in Hallowell, Maine and their workings in the community.

Ulrich's first book was titled Good Wives, this book explained the role of "good' wives in traditional society. Ulrich was striving to provide insight on the lives of early American women in New England, she used court records, probate records, family papers, diaries of men, church records and contents of ministerial sermons to show the roles of women in early America. This book led Laurel Ulrich to search for more data related to women and early American history and she stumbled upon Martha's diary in the Maine state library. This let her to petition for the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities to allow her to study and interpret Martha's Diary. Professor Ulrich saw studying Martha's diary as a connection between past work and future work. Professor Ulrich's planned a two month study of the diary which turned into an 8 year dissection of Martha's diary that turned into A Midwife's Tale.

Professor Ulrich had many intents while writing this book. Her first intent was to examine an old and detailed diary that had not yet been used to its full potential. James E. North quoted a few passages from Martha's diary but he did not focus on the female aspects presented in the diary. The diary was partially neglected because of North's excerpts chosen for the History of Augusta. Professor Ulrich intended to provide us with a valuable exhibit of everyday life of the 18/19 century. Her book would show how the little town of Hallowell functioned from when Martha moved to Hallowell 1785 to Martha's death in 1812.

In her first book Good Wives, Professor Ulrich had a hard time finding women's writings and accounts from the early New England time period. Thus making it harder to write her book. When she started to research Martha's diary, she was amazed at the amount of material in it. She states that "Martha's diary is an unparalleled document in early American history." and that it is "powerful in part because it is so difficult to use". Ulrich's initial intention was to have a short paper that would connect her current writing and her future writing, that would only take her the summer. As she started to read and dissect Martha's diary, her intent changed from just being a short connecting paper to a book that would explain the daily life of early Maine.

Ulrich's intention was not to publish Martha's diary or to make a substitute for Martha's diary but to interpret the diary for twentieth century readers. With this intent Ulrich had to do additional research looking at wills, tax lists, deeds, court records, medical treatises, novels, and fragmentary papers of Maine physicians. With this research and Martha's diary, Ulrich was able to create a book about the womens role in the 18th/19th centuries with great support from Martha's records. It gives us insight into the community from a woman's view and an idea of women's daily life in this time period. Professor Ulrich was successful at defining the role of women in the late 18th early 19th century.

There are certain basic parts to being a community, parts that every community should have whether it is successful or not. A community starts with providing a safe place to live. Safety usually stems from some sort of organization, law or community rules that allow people to successfully get along and live together. A more successful community would include developing friendships, social relations such as barn raisings and dances and developing groups which people interact with such as churches, clubs or community centers. These other activities may mean that you have a bigger community not necessarily a more successful community.

In the late 18th early 19th century town of Hallowell, a high percentage of the people worked to make a successful community. Almost every person in the town had a part in the community, whether they were the midwife traveling to all of the homes tending to the sick and delivering babies or the women working together to make quilts and textiles. Trying to create a successful community played a larger role in the lives of the citizens of Hallowell, Maine in the late 18th and early 19th centuries than today. Martha Ballard shows many examples of this in her diary.

First, Martha talks many times of the women of the town attending the births of other women to assist the new mother. The women attending did not have to have any relation to the mother to be, they simply wanted to lend their help and knowledge to a community member. Martha noted this several times throughout her diary, " The babe weighted 11 pounds Sally Cleark & Preuda Snow came at evening, there all night." , "Pruda helpt wash Sally assisted. She tarried all night." (1, pg 314) During most childbirth today, the people that assist the mother in the hospital are usually family members and close friends along with the doctor that is delivering the baby. Other community members from where the women lives do not attend the mother during delivery.

A second example Martha discusses is how citizens work together to help each other out. When the Ballard mill had burned, she explains that the men came to help and the women prepared for the dance that would fallow the finishing of the mills. "The working men came to begin the framing.", "We raised the saw mill fraim Mr. Marsh & Thomas were hurt. The business otherways done with safety.", "The young folks had a dance at evening, dispersed at midnight." (1, pg 71) The people of Hallowell came together to help a man in need of a mill and successfully built one. This kind of help was common during Martha's time, she talks of other times when barns had burned or were needed and the Hallowell town came together to help rebuild/build the barn. Martha referred to these as barn raisings. Today when a barn burns the town goes out to watch but no one thinks about helping to rebuild the barn, we hire a contractor. The occurrence of a community coming together to rebuild a home does happen rarely and many times it is for tv publicity.

A third example is seen throughout Martha's diary, she talks about dressing and preparing members of the community that have died. Martha and other midwife's who tend to the sick and dying, wash the bodies and put on the burial clothes when they die. "I went to Doct Colmans at 1 hour pm. His child expird at 4. I put on the grave cloaths and tarried till 7. " (1, pg 72) "Shee departed this life about 1 pm. I asisted to lay her out." (1, pg 39) When a person dies today they are sent to a mortician, who cleans prepares the body and makes the body presentable to family and friends. This job is usually done by one man who preforms this duty by himself for many years, not the community as a whole. Martha's examples show the difference in importance of a community in the lives of people in the late 18th early 19th century and the lives of people today.

Martha's diary gives us a final example revolving around citizens trading trading in the community. People within the Hallowell community frequently traded goods and services to help their neighbors and themselves. "Mrs Savage here. Shee has spun 40 double skeins for me since April 15th and had 2 bushl of ashes & some phisic for James... I let her have skein of lining wrap. The whole is 6/ X", "Called at Daughter Lambards. Brot 6 lbs 3/4 veal from her. Lafaett Ploughd the S end of our field." Martha and Daughter Lambard have traded veal for a plowed field. Today our primary way of obtaining what we need is to use money as payment, their is very little trading of goods for services, goods for goods, etc. in our communities.

Today the size of our communities is much larger then the size of the Hallowell community. With so little people in Hallowell, most folks knew all of the people that live around them and and in the grater community of Hallowell. The people in this community was very dependent on other to get through daily life. Members of the community depended on Martha to help them get better and to deliver their babies while Martha depended on Sally and other housekeepers to keep her house clean. The towns and communities of today are mostly much larger then the small town of Hallowell in the 1700's. We do not depend on the members of our town to take care of us in bad health or to clean our homes, like the members of the Hallowell community. The size of Hallowell directed the members to be a community that worked together to get through daily life. The size of our towns and communities today give us the choice to be part of our community or not.

In Martha's time a higher percentage of people made building and maintaining a community an important part of their lives. Today being a part of building and maintaining a community is more of a choice. You can live and function in a town/community and choose not to be a part of the community activities or you can take action and be a part of the community. This was not true in Hallowell, Maine in the 18th and 19th century. To survive you had to have community connections to get weaving, food, a home built, etc. Today developing and improving our community does not seem to be such a high priority for everyone.



Source
1) Ulrich, Laurel T. A Midwife's Tale. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Cole in start of this section gets attacked by a bear and gains nerve damage in his arm. I was interested in how much the muscle damage would effect him when he was back on the island building his own shelter and fending for himself. There are three types of nerve injury, neurapraxia, axonotmesis and neurotmesis. In a neurapraxia injury the nerve stays intact with the nerve fibers having an interruption in the condition of communication. This type of nerve damage can be fully recovered. In a axonotmesis injury there is damage to the neuronal axon, the nerve communication to the brain and its protective shield. This type of injury can paralyze the motion and feeling in the area and is only fully recoverable if surgery is preformed soon after the damage is done. In a neurotmesis nerve injury there is damage to the neuronal axon and also cutting off the connection to the tissue, disrupting the structure of the nerve. Motion and feeling is completely lost and the nerve is completely divided causing permanent damage that is not often fixable. Cole's damage from the description in the book is most like axonotmesis nerve injury, he has motion in the arm and he can feel it but it did not fully recover all of the motion and feeling. This injury will make it hard for Cole to build his new shelter when he must reach over his head with his weak arm. Cole's injury will give him trouble for the rest of the book.

What role of family dynamic did women play in the late 18th early 19th century Maine?

The main role of women during the late 18th early 19th century was to be a neighbor. Being a neighbor in the 18th century is not like being a neighbor of today. Being a neighbor of that time included being a midwife, weaver, dressmaker, keeping your house and continuing to keep the community alive and striving. Women were not included in the economic business of the town unless they owned a shop that sold dresses or other products that they had woven. However they provided services and were paid for those services with money or goods that benefited their family economics. The womens role in the 18th century centered around their neighbors and home lives. The womens role is described well in A Midwife's Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

Martha Ballard showed that women had many jobs. Hers included midwife, healer, mother, weaver, book keeper and keeping her house. During her career as midwife, she preformed 814 deliveries in Hallowell, Maine. Being a midwife was not just a simple job of preforming deliveries but also as a healer she tended to all of the neighbors wounds, illnesses and sores, even through the hardest times of the year when the snow was up to your knees in a blizzard. Martha provides us with many examples of her struggles through the snow and river. "1,2,3,4,5 At Mr Parkers 5 days. At Mr Parkers. His Lady is about house. The river is difficult to pass." (1) This entry from Martha's diary shows that she was forced to stay at the Parker house because the river was half frozen, to much ice to take a boat across and not enough ice to walk across. Martha made many deliveries with minimal losses, she reported every delivery she attend or preformed. "At Whites. His wife was delivered at 12 O Clok of a daughter and I was Called back to Mr Parkers. His Lady was deliverd at 0 hour 30 minutes of a daughter. I am some fatagud." (1) In this one example Martha delivered two separate children for two different families the Whites and the Parkers. Midwifes not only attended and preformed deliveries they also tended to all of their neighbors and family members in times of illness. " At Mr Hinkleys. Shee remaind poorly till afternoon then by remedys & other means shee got Easyer. I tarried all night" (1) Martha also mentions the names of other neighbors whom are midwifes attending deliveries, showing that there were a number of women in the town that were midwifes or ladies who came to help during deliveries. These activities were important parts of women's roles at the time. Martha's diary tells us that the job of midwife and healing was an important job of women in the late 18th early 19th centuries.

A second role of women was creating textiles through weaving, knitting and dressmaking. The women in the town weave all the products for the town for their own use for income or for payment of deeds. Martha and all of her daughter weaved for themselves and others. "Dolly wove her 7 yds of Diaper.", "Dolly warpt a piece for Mrs Pollard of 39 yards.", "Hannah began to weave Cyrus' web", " I have been at home knitting". (1) Hannah, Dolly and Martha spend their time knitting and weaving for others only when they have been married do they make themselves blankets. "The girls quilted a two quilts.... They began to quilt at 3 hour pm. Finished and took it out at 7 evening." " The next day they put the quilt into the fraim." The ladies in the town used weaving knitting and dressmaking as a form of payment. When Martha would deliver a baby or provide neighbors with medical help she would receive a variety of items for payment such as, " 7/6 reward" " shee made me a present of 1/2 lb Souchong Tea." Knitting, Weaving and Dressmaking is the second role of women in the late 18th early 19th centuries. This is seen in the diary through Martha's discussion of textiles produced by her family.

A third role of 18th / 19th century women as neighbors was to raise their children, keep their house which often included book keeping. Martha was a midwife and a weaver but foremost she was a mother, raising her children. Martha taught her children how to weave. Which was a trade that would help them earn money as well as provide needed textiles for their family. When Martha's daughters married the journal repeatedly mentions the girls quilting, "The girls quilted a Bed quillt 7 went to Mr. Craggs spent Eveng." (1) and "The girls quilted two quilts. Hannah Rockwood & Mrs. Benjamin helpt the Evening." (1)

Martha had another job as a women, she had to keep the house. She gives a variety of examples of this throughout her diary, " A rainy day, I have been at home kniting.", "Pikt green peas in our gardin," and " I combd flax." In keeping the house Martha was pushed into her last job as book keeper. Martha kept the records of all of her earnings and spendings in a separate book from her diary, while also using diary. Martha was a consistent record keeper, in her diary she recorded all of the deliveries she preformed, the condition of the mother and child when she left and if they had paid their fees to her. She used a system of XX to show that the delivery was paid for, whether they paid it that day or three years later. Motherhood, house keeping and book keeping are important jobs of 18th and 19th century women.

The women of the late 18th early 19th centuries had many roles in being a neighbor. Neighbors of this time preformed medical assistance as a midwife, produces textiles and took care of their homes and families. Although it was not common knowledge, Martha's diary shows that women were an essential part of the economics and keeping the society connected. Their payment for their services enhanced their families lives. Martha often received a variety of payments that benefited her family. "I have been at home. Recievd 1/2 Bushel of rie of Captain Hersey as reward for asisting his lady." (1) All of the roles of the 18th and 19th century women were essential to family and community life.





Source:
Ulrich, Laurel T. A Midwife's Tale. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Response: Week one

The two unknown words that interested me the most were the circle of justice and spirit bear. The circle of justice is a great idea, it plays with the idea of working with all who have been hurt to find a punishment other then jail. The punishment takes into consideration what will help the person the most. The circle plays a huge role in the book, they review Cole's crime and decide that prison would not be helpful to him, it would have just increased his anger and they sent him to a exclusive island by himself. The circle is just a great idea for juveniles. The spirit bear also interested me because I had not thought of researching the meaning behind it. The spirit bear plays a major role in the recovery of Cole and his journey to forgiveness and helping Petter. I think that it is interesting that the spirit bear was not a legend of the Tlingit tribe, the circle has sent Cole away to the island in a Tlingit tradition and they use a bear from a different culture, that a little bit different you would think they would choose something from the same culture. These two choices of unknown subjects interested me the most with the content of the book.

English 11: Week 1: Tlingit Indians

Two of the people first introduced in this book, Garvey and Edwin, are part of the Tlingit Indian tribe. I have no previous knowledge of this tribe so I made my first post about them. In all of the sites that I looked at they all supported the Tlingit tribe being from Alaska and mainly Southeast Alaska. This is seen in the book on the first page with Cole being sent to and exclusive island in Southeast Alaska as a punishment. The Tlingit tribe has mainly lived by the ocean for their whole existence. They find their main food source in the ocean whether it is fish from the sea and near by streams and rivers to the sea mammals. Many of the Tlingit members build their houses closed to the rivers and streams so they have the salmon in the water and close to them for fishing. The Tlingit Indians not only spent their time fishing and gathering food, they also worked on building their homes and canoes, making baskets and carving totem poles. The Indians obtained the wood to build and create all of these goods with the trees in their own back yard. (because I started and finished this book today i know that the totem poles will carry a very important role in this book with Petter and Cole) The Tlingit heirlooms represent the ancestors of the clan and they are mainly animals that the ancestors have came in contact with. The heirlooms are used in rituals to honor their ancestors. In the rituals there are many dances that represent different things such as animals or emotions of the tribe. (Again this will connect with the book with Cole and his dances of the animals) The Tlingit culture believed that the bear signified the relationship between animals and humans, because of their belief in this close relation the Tlingit Indians rarely killed bears.



Sources
"The Tlingit Nation." Native American People/Tribes. Apr. 2005. 29 June 2008 .

"The Tlingit of the Northeast Coast." American Indians in the Natural World. 1998. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 29 June 2008 .


"Tlingit." Feb.-Mar. 2000. 29 June 2008 .

The American Revolution
Heidi Wyman

6-12-08

When looking at a Revolution we consider what battles occurred, who led those battles and who won the battles, we do not always consider what was required of the leadership qualities needed to make the revolution possible. We don't consider the need of collaboration between leaders that it takes to create a revolution. The American Revolution had many leaders, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison who all worked together. These men had many qualities that when all put together got us through the war, revolution and into a working constitution of laws.

One of the qualities required of a leader during a war is the ability to speak in public and to persuade people. John Adams shows his speaking and persuasive abilities in the Continental Congress meetings. In the first Continental Congress, Adams addresses the issue of independence from Britain, has a strong argument but takes it a little too personal. Adams recognizes his mistake and creates a stronger argument that persuades the majority of the Continental Congress members to agree to a war to gain their independence. Part of John Adams tactic was to appoint George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. This gave Adams the support from all those who supported Washington. Joseph Ellis describes Adams as "the indefatigable orator of independence in the Continental Congress". Adams was not the only founding father with this trait; Madison also had the ability to persuade people. Jefferson said he was against running for president after Washington had been in office. However, Madison was very persistent and persuasive and talked Jefferson into running for president under one condition; Jefferson was to know nothing about his campaign and he would deny it if he was ever asked. Once Jefferson was in office, Madison had great influence over all of Jefferson's choices. Although he could persuade Jefferson, Madison realized that Jefferson was the superior figure in their relationship and let Jefferson know that he realized that in a letter to Jefferson. "I shall always receive your commands with pleasure," Madison wrote to Jefferson in 1794, "and shall continue to drop you a line as occasions turn up." (1) This quality of persuasion was essential because the leaders needed to convince people to take action and revolt against status quo, and to get others to do what was needed.

Another trait of a successful leader is commitment. Commitment is choosing a cause or position and completely supporting it and remaining loyal to your positions/belief. The founding father who was the most dedicated to one cause through the revolution is John Adams. John Adams spent his entire life committed to the American Revolution. Adams made American independence his life's project. Adams first step to helping America gain Independence is his help leading the opposition against the Stamp Act. This was just one of the contributions Adams made to the American Revolution. From 1765 on, Adams joined the opposition party to every aspect of British acts on the American Colonies. Adams was so dedicated to his cause he was in a fight with his cousin Samuel Adams whom did not support the revolution. His next move was to lobby for Washington to head the Continental Army and he selected Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. These two choices were to lock in Virginia’s support for the American Revolution. In 1777, Adams was sent to join Franklin in Paris to convince the French to join the colonies effort for independence from Britain. Adams worked out a peace treaty with France that would end the War with Britain. Adams went on to become the vice president and the president of the United States. For Adams, "American Independence became his ministerial calling, a mission he pursued with all the compressed energy of a latter-day Puritan pastor whose congregation was the American people." (1) This was a very important trait because to gain followers people have to trust/see that you are committed, believe in the cause and then are influenced to believe themselves.

A good leader must have good character. A leader with good character includes, being honest, caring, courageous and respectful. George Washington was the ideal man to show this quality. "Honor mattered because character mattered. And character mattered because the fate of the American experiment with republican government still required virtuous leaders to survive."(1) Washington was a very caring, honest and respectful man. Washington's biggest moment of good character was his retirement. George Washington had two main reasons for retiring from office, first, Washington was getting negative press and conversation and Washington was very hurt by this. The talk was addressing the issue of him trying to become a King. Washington simply replied that "these attacks, unjust and unpleasant as they are, will occasion no change in my conduct; nor will they work any other effect in my mind." (1) This quote from Washington makes you have great respect for him, he is telling in a subtle the people that their comments about him are incorrect and that if they keep publishing them then it will not affect him. Washington also had another reason for retiring from office, he did not want to set the precedent of the president dieing in office. Washington wanted to make a difference between the American government and the European monarchies. He wanted to convey the message "that presidents, no matter how indispensable, were inherently disposable."(1) Character was a very important quality during the Revolution and development of the new government. The people of the colonies had to believe in and support leaders and new government and wanted leaders with strong character.

Leaders during the time of the revolution also had to be sneaky, self serving and ruthless. Jefferson was the man who had no heart; he was never any one persons friend and was always worried about himself. This is best seen with his relationship with Washington. When Washington made a speech about the Whiskey Rebellion being a threat to the authority of the Federal government and sent the militia to control the rebellion, Jefferson went against his speech. Washington and Jefferson had been on safe terms with each other until this event. Jefferson began to mock Washington's speeches saying they were “shreds of stuff from Aesop's fables and Tom Thumb." and that Washington himself was "an unknowing and somewhat pathetic accomplice, like an overages "captain in his cabin" who was sound asleep while "rogue of a pilot (presumably Hamilton)" has run them into an enemy's port." Jefferson would speak these issues with his fellow Republicans. Eventually these statements got back to Washington, hurting him. Jefferson was very sneaky with his ways of distributing his thoughts on Washington and had only one thing in mind while he was spreading these ideas. Jefferson wanted to get Washington out of office so he could become the president. This trait is definitely not an admirable one but it at times was one necessary when trying to become a leader.

The most important quality of a leader is the ability to collaborate with others. The American Revolution was essentially the result of five great leaders collaborating to further the movement away from Britain, towards independence. There were many great collaborators during the American Revolution. One group to collaborate was Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. These three men, although not friends, came together at a dinner to discuss their issues. James Madison wanted the capitol of the colonies moved to the Potomac Valley; Hamilton did not support this choice. Alexander Hamilton wanted his plan of assumption to pass, while Madison was against this idea and spoke frequently of his dislike of the plan. Jefferson was in essence the peace maker of this situation. Jefferson was successful at getting these two men together to create a political bargain of great significance; Madison agreed to keep quiet about his disagreement with the assumption plan and in return Hamilton agreed to use his influence to get the capitol built in the Potomac Valley. This collaboration was one of the greatest; not only did these men collaborate to create the plan of agreement they followed through with their plan and the assumption act was passed and the capitol was moved to the Potomac Valley.

Another example of collaboration was George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. This was fundamentally the best and most effective collaboration of the whole Revolution. The collaboration started when John Adams strategically lobbied for George Washington to head the Continental army and hand picked Thomas Jefferson to write the Deceleration of Independence. The first part of this collaboration gained the support from Virginia and the surrounding states, for the Revolution. This collaboration in the Continental Congress led to George Washington and the Continental army defeating the British, gaining the independence for the colonies. This collaboration also led to the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence the formally declared colonial Independence.

A third great collaboration in the Revolution was James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. These two men were opposites; Madison was less sweeping in his intellectual style, more careful and precise, the prose to Jefferson's poetry, Jefferson was temperamentally different then Madison, he was ruthless and did not care what people thought and he was never clam. These differences made the Madison-Jefferson collaboration smooth and silently effective. Jefferson and Madison bonded together to help Virginia, the Revolution and to bring Jefferson to presidency. In this relationship, Madison did not have the reputation of Jefferson and could not run himself so he did all of the dirty work to allow Jefferson to become president. Once Jefferson is president; Madison is not in office but still has great influence over a president. Madison wanted to give Jefferson no chance to protest against running for the succession of Washington.

All of the qualities were important to creating a revolution and establishing a new government. However, the American Revolution would not have happened without collaboration between the leaders of the time. It took the effort of Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Washington and Adams to create the biggest change the colonies would ever face. Although the interaction/relationships were not always pleasant or even friendly, the collaborations and relationships worked as a whole to get the colonies through a war, revolution and the making of the laws.

Citations

1.) Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.