A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

Chapter 10 shifts to 1809, later in Martha’s life when her midwifery practice had slowed down and she began to increasingly dedicate herself to her garden. The later diary entries, in contrast to those of her earlier years in Hallowell, show families with the same last names as the original families, but are the younger descendants of the people Martha once knew, with many of the original townsfolk having died. 

Ulrich gives historical context for the changes in Kennebec and in the US at large, especially as it pertains to westward expansion. She explores the various conflicts between land proprietors and settlers or squatters—who, notably, in one conflict impersonated Indigenous Americans to intimidate land proprietors—as well as the shifting global politics taking place during the Jefferson presidential administration. This was the background for Martha’s world, yet she made little mention of any of it in her diary, oftentimes in the margin of entries about what crops she planted that day.

The garden became significant to Martha toward the end of her life. While she danced around political events, like the lifting of Jefferson’s embargo in 1809, she went into detail about her gardening practices, offering more description than any other sources from the region for that period. Her garden was full to the brim with plants that bore fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Ulrich argues that the gardens cultivated and described revealed the inner desires of the gardeners: Dr. Cony used gardens as an economic forecast—if a year had good crops, debts would be repaid. Dr. Vaughn wanted his garden to display “harmony between art and nature” (378), while Martha’s garden was rooted in the incremental work it took to create something that could “nourish the soul” (379). Her garden was hers to cultivate and own, a corner of something that belonged entirely to her.

The peace of her garden entries is broken by the “scene” of her nephew Elijah Barton’s murder of a land surveyor. Martha expresses empathy for her sister, she herself able to imagine how it feels to have a son acting out of control. After a lengthy trial, Elijah was found not guilty, and Martha welcomed him into her home for a visit. Despite some of her entries describing discontent with Jonathan and Sally, it seems Martha kept some family issues out of her diary as she mellowed with age, describing “scenes” without further explanation. She took control of her diary, melding the narrative to her will. 

In 1809, her midwifery resumed. In 1808, she attended only 3 deliveries in the entire year. By the end of 1809, she attended 21 births. Ulrich posits that her midwifery practice had been taken over by a woman mentioned in the diary as Mrs. Mosier, who died in the summer of 1809, leaving a role to be filled in Hallowell’s community. Martha’s midwifery practice continued up until her death, pushing herself to deliver even more babies in the last year of her life than in the year before. 

The diary ends with an entry on May 7, 1812, describing a room full of people caring and praying for Martha in her time of illness. By June 9, 1812, she died. Her diary, though, lives on, offering an honest and authentic look into Hallowell and into her life. Though barely mentioned in official written documents like census records or tax lists, Martha’s name and memory are preserved in her diary, which she methodically recorded for over 27 years.