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Introduction

• Martha Moore marries Ephraim Ballard in 1754.

• The Ballards move from Massachusetts to Maine in 1775

• Ephraim does surveying and milling work.

• Martha works as a midwife for almost forty years in the Kennebec River area.

• Martha begins her diary in 1785 and maintains it until a few months before her death in 1812.
• Historians believe the diary is a way for Martha to validate her life.

August 1787

• Midwives are loved by women and feared by those in authority.

• In addition to being a midwife, Martha was a physician, nurse, pharmacist, housewife, neighbor and mother.

• Martha grew the herbs necessary to make her compresses, teas, ointments and other medicines.

• Midwives and doctors performed some of the same functions such as delivering babies and treating illness.

September 1788

• In the community, men managed their own businesses and the public business while women managed their own businesses and the unseen community businesses.

• Ephraim was...

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