Midwife - neighbourly helper or recorded occupation?

[kathyc]

I've recently been in touch with a living relative who gave me a bit of new anecdotal information about my gg grandmother. According to him, she acted as midwife to the women in her area (Shieldaig, Rossshire) until her death in 1929. No one else in the family has ever mentioned it, but this is the only relative I've talked to who still lives there, so he may well have a bit more information simply absorbed from living there all his life.

According to all official sources (census records, valuation rolls) and family memory, she was an innkeeper. There is no mention of midwifery. So what I'm wondering is whether there's any way to check whether she did indeed act in that capacity for the women of Shieldaig. Any ideas?

Thanks, as always,
Kathy

[Russell]

Hi Kathy

Formal registration of Midwives only began in 1902 so there would be little chance that your gggrandmother would be recorded as a 'trained' midwife.
The best chance of finding any information would be anecdotal. If someone from the area had put pen to paper and written about their life and mentioned the significant figures in that life she might be mentioned.
This does not mean that she was untrained because there is eviodence that training of midwives was being carried out at least a century earlier.
In rural areas the 'birthing woman' played an important part in the well-being of many women and their safe deliveries, whether formally trained or based on learning by inclination and neccessity but few would appear by name in formal records.
If there are records made by the local Doctor or the Doctor appointed to supervise the public health in the area they might give some clues.

Not a forlorn hope, but a search would take you into realms not usually explored by us family history folk.

Russell

[joette]

My Great-Granny was the local"midwife" in her home village.She & Great-Grandpa were interested in all things medical & Grandpa had to settle for St.Andrews Vol Service when he would have loved to have been a Dr-not much chance with a Coachman Father & Nine siblings.

Great-Granny was one of the elder girls in a large family,practical & sensible.She went on to have nine children of her own.

I know from my Granny & Great-Aunts that she was called on by the village women & the local Doctors particularly if it was a difficult confinement.She certainly never had any formal training-wouldn't have had the time!

I do know that she "specialised" in premature births.My Granny recalls a baby of about 30 weeks gestation"like a wee skint rabbit" being brought home,laid in a wooden box lined with sheepskin & placed near the range oven.He was fed with an eye-dropper type device every two hours-all hands to the pump for this case.I know he survived.

When I was nursing in the local hospital I came across a few old dears whom my GGranny had delivered.One lady told me that her Mother had been told
"Don't worry lass the pain is nothing when you hold them in your arms-the real pain starts when they grow up"
It made me view this tough old bird who used to terrify me in a different light.
She also helped to lay out the dead & was less than understanding when my big fearty Granny refused to help in the task.
"It's no the dead ye need to fear it's the ones with life still in them"
Funnilly enough dead bodies have never held any fears for me & although an upsetting task I used to gain great satisfaction out of carrying out the "final offices" for a patient.My Nursing Tutors used to tell us this was the last task we could carry out for our patients & families.

The local Midwife trained or otherwise was an important part of people's lives -often there at both the beginning & the end.
I supposse as an Innkeeper she may have been able to provide "rooms" for the expectant Mums but it is more likely they were delivered at home.

[SarahND]

Hi all,
I was just in the Archives on Wednesday, looking at Kirk Session Minutes, and found an interesting mention of a midwife. It was before I read this post, or I would have made more careful note of it So bear with my vagueness...

I believe it was in the Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire minutes and was somewhere either in the late 1700's or early 1800's (I know, I know, I should have noted it... but it wasn't directly relevant to what I was looking for at the time...) Anyway, the Kirk Session was discussing the fact that there was no qualified midwife in the community, and they needed one. A local woman had volunteered to fill the gap if she could be trained to work with the local doctor. They agreed to take her up on it and provide the funds to send her to Aberdeen for training. I thought that was really quite civilized and enlightened of them
Regards,
Sarah

[kathyc]

Sarah, I hadn't thought of Kirk Session Minutes as a place to look. I haven't explored them at all yet.

Joette, my granny was a nurse midwife before her marriage, and a few of the women whose babies she delivered kept in touch with her for the rest of her life. We're lucky to have these bits of knowledge about them, don't you think?

Russell, thanks for the suggestions. Like you, I doubt she was registered as a midwife.

Kathy