Laurel Thatcher Ulrich faced difficulty analyzing Martha Ballard’s diary, where the shorthand was cryptic and lacked detail (Purcell et al., np). Ulrich worked with subject matter specialists to decode the shorthand and used contextual analysis to address this. As Ballard got older, her handwriting displayed symptoms of physical deterioration and facilitated Ulrich’s inference regarding her state of health. Ballard did not talk about feelings or offer personal reflections and opinions on society’s problems, which presented gaps in understanding her inner world (Purcell et al., np). Topics concerning her sentiments about the challenges she had in life or issues relating to wider historical events would have been more productive regarding a better understanding of her experiences. However, the absence of these mirrors reveals that historians have limitations when interpreting personal stories because they should consider historical silences.
How would you characterize her role during labour and childbirth? In her community?
A midwife, Martha Ballard, played an important role in a community during childbirth. In her practice, she aided pregnant women physically and mentally as they gave birth (Birk np). In addition to this, care is brought on by childbirth. Ballard employed knowledge beyond childbirth towards medical care by providing herbal remedies and working in communal health. In some aspects, however different, Ballard’s life was from an average woman as a midwife and healer in the late eighteenth-century perspective of women lived at that time (Birk np). The diary provides valuable information on the difficulties and burdens women faced in their time, highlighting such aspects of everyday routine as family life, and relations between people within the domestic centre. Although this highlights some important elements of women’s lives during that period, the life circumstances and roles varied between various socioeconomic groups and were restricted within regional limitations.
What did Martha Ballard focus on when writing her diary entries? Is there a central theme or pattern?
Most entries in her diary are about Martha Ballard as a midwife, healer, and just a woman in society. Information about obstetrics, medicine and items available in the household was meticulously recorded by her (Birk np). This theme is closely associated with her various roles in women’s reproductive health, community issues and family relations. The recurring theme of recording births, deaths and various domestic chores accurately describes living in the late 18th century and early 19th century (Birk np).
How did the relationship between Martha Ballard and her husband, Ephraim, differ from her relationship with her son, Jonathan?
Martha Ballard most probably cooperated with her husband, the farmer Ephraim, in tending their household and farm. On the other hand, her relationship with Jonathan portrayed typical parent-child interaction patterns. Jonathan’s actions, achievements, and even his money transactions were recorded in Martha’s diary (Birk np). From time to time, she also showed the maternal feelings between them. Although both relationships were based on familial ties, the relationship between Martha and Ephraim was characterized in terms of partnership.
How would you describe Ballard’s personality and interaction with others?
Martha Ballard, as personhood, which she is defined through her diary, is an industrious, practical woman who has served the community (Birk np). Her relationships with others show empathy, caring and commitment, especially in her duties as a midwife and healer. Ballard was not the only woman, as many women do today, who had to find a way between family and work. The fact that her life is depicted from an autobiographical perspective demonstrates her need for self-expression (Birk np). At the same time, it shows the significance of her role in forming their community.
Suppose you want to research the history of a particular woman or a group of women from the late 18th or early 19th centuries but cannot still look for records for them. What should you do?
Ideally, when you cannot find records for a woman or group of women dating from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, it is important to check alternative sources, including local archives. Also, interact with genealogical materials, newspapers and oral histories to reveal ‘hidden’ or unconventional sources of information.
Works Cited
Birk, Megan. “Rural Life.” A Companion to American Agricultural History (2022): 371-388.
Purcell, Beth Williams. “Spatiality in the History of American Women and their Religions: A Historiographical Essay.” (2020).
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