January 5 1812: Martha Ballard

On January 5, 1812, a Sunday, Martha Ballard wrote in her diary:

Clear. I have been at home. Jonas wife and 2 Childn here at Evng. Shee informd me that mr Tappins Text was Eclesiasts 11 C 1st vers, and that there was a Contribution for the relief of the poore that are Sick.  at home. Son Jonas wife here at Evng. 

The Biblical text referred to appears to be from Ecclesiastes 11:1. The King James Version reads: 

 Cast  thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

The transcription above is again taken form the website dohistory. The transcription of the diary is the work of Robert R. McCausland and Cynthia MacAlman McCausland.

For more on Martha Ballard see here and here.

January 1 1812: Martha Ballard

January 1, 1812

On January 1, 1812, a wednesday, Martha Ballard wrote in her diary:

Cloudy and some rain. Epm Conducted his grand pah & I to Capt Pitss, we found his famely allmost Sick with Colds. Charls Coxes wife there. we went from there to Judg Norths to an Evng Lecture. Revd mr Tappin performd. the Text Romans XIII C vers 11th. we returnd home before 9h Evn.

at Judg Norths to Lecture. a mr Deans here from New Sharon.

Martha Moore Ballard (1734/1735-1812) was born in Oxford, Massachusetts to Dorothy and Elijah Moore. In 1754, she married Ephraim Ballard, a miller and surveyor, who appears to have had some Tory sympathies that caused him trouble after the American Revolution. Martha Ballard is now remembered because of her diary where she recorded her life as a midwife and healer from the age of fifty to her death. She had nine children, three of whom died in 1769 from the diphtheria epidemic.

The tweets about her are taken from her diary which can be found in the DoHistory website. This website contains a copy of Martha’s diary and a useful transcription.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, her biographer, notes in her A Midwife's Tale that Martha’s diary records that Martha, as midwife, was involved in 816 deliveries performed between 1785 and 1812, the last year of her life.