Martha Moore Ballard
Martha Moore Ballard was a prominent figure in 18th-century America, known primarily for her detailed diary that offers a glimpse into her life as a midwife in Maine. Born in the mid-1730s near Oxford, Massachusetts, she married Ephraim Ballard, with whom she had six children, many of whom sadly died from a diphtheria epidemic. Ballard’s diary, published in "The History of Augusta: First Settlement and Early Days as a Town," is one of the few surviving autobiographical accounts from women of her time, chronicling nearly a thousand childbirths and reflecting on her experiences in the years following the American Revolutionary War.
Her writings provide not only a record of her medical practice but also insights into societal norms, marriage roles, and the evolving landscape of healthcare as male physicians began to dominate the field. Ballard's observations included discussions on sensitive topics such as rape and illegitimacy, revealing a nuanced understanding of women's issues in her community. Her life was marked by significant events, including the murder of a neighbor and the unconventional marriages of her daughters. Martha Moore Ballard’s legacy endures through her diary, which remains a vital resource for historians and a testament to the experiences of women during her era. She passed away in 1812, continuing to assist in deliveries until her final days.
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Martha Moore Ballard
Biographer
- Born: February 9, 1735
- Birthplace: Oxford, Massachusetts
- Died: May 1, 1812
- Place of death: Maine
Biography
Martha Moore Ballard was born near Oxford, Massachusetts, in the mid 1730’s and married Ephraim Ballard, a mapmaker, in 1754. The marriage yielded six children, many of whom died in a diphtheria epidemic. Ballard is known for her diary, which was later published in The History of Augusta: First Settlement and Early Days as a Town, Including the Diary of Mrs. Martha Moore Ballard. A midwife, Ballard’s diary chronicles her deliveries and the events of her day-to-day life and is one of only a few surviving autobiographical works by an eighteenth century woman. But Ballard’s diary does more than describe her life in Maine in the years following the American Revolutionary War; it also includes her thoughts on sexual mores, the role of marriage, and the emergence of male physicians, which supplanted her role as a primary medical authority. As an expert on childbirth, Ballard also wrote of women who were raped or had children out of wedlock. But her account, which includes descriptions of nearly a thousand deliveries, describes very few of those cases and proves that such events were not as common as literary tradition has implied. Ballard’s life was a colorful one, and her diary includes the stories of a neighbor who went on a murderous rampage and the scandalously late marriages of her daughters. Ballard died in 1812, but because another midwife had recently died, Ballard delivered more babies in her final months than at any other time. Her original manuscript, which included ruled margins, possibly indicating that an almanac version of it had once existed, was put on display at Maine State Library and was used by the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in The History of Augusta.