mother, Nurse Johnson, Hill, Hawkins, Mrs. Goose, Deming, Green, Smith, Hatch, Blin. A grand occasion truly! Perhaps the Hill family knew what they were about when they saw to it that their daughter did not disappoint the Sewalls. There were other advantages besides the prospect of a good meal, in being a nurse in attendance on a new baby. The following is but one out of many instances which might be quoted: 1 1 July 28, 1714. According to my Promise, I carried my daughter Hannah to Meadford to visit Cousin Porter Lyeing in. Gave the Nurse 2s, Maid Is. Hannah gave the Nurse IS. The nurses in the Sewall family received the reward of affection also. On December 9, 1713, the Judge notes his attending the funeral of Nurse Hannah Cowell 2- "Was a very pious woman, and a true lover of the first ways of New England," and the following year he writes: 3 August 7. Hearing of it just at the time, as I was with the Chief Justice, I went to the funeral of our excellent Nurse Hill. The perquisites of a nurse had not diminished by 1772, when the little schoolgirl, Anna Green Winslow, wrote: 4 1 Sewall, vol. III, p. II. 3 Ibid., vol. VII, p. 14. 2 Ibid., vol. vi, p. 410. ▲ Winslow, p. 15, and note, p. 100. I made a setting up visit to Aunt Suky. It cost me a pistoreen to Nurse Eaton for tow cakes which I took care to eat before I paid for them. The editor adds in a note: There exists in New England a tradition of groaning cakes made and baked in honor of a mother and babe. These cakes which Anna bought of the nurse may have been groaning cakes. It was always customary at that time to give "vails" when visiting a new-born child; sometimes gifts of money, often trinkets and articles of clothing. According to the Boston physician quoted above, the employment of men accoucheurs began to be common in the years following 1750. This may account for the fact that before that time no direct advertisements of midwives had appeared, but following 1760 several women address the public, always laying stress on their having "been examined by the Faculty," 1 or having "been approved by several gentlemen of that Profession."2 The following card is the earliest of the kind noted: 3 Mrs. Ridgely, Midwife, from London: Having practised for many years in that opulent city, with great success; but some affairs relative to the Death of her Husband making it indispensably necessary for her coming to this City, she intends during her stay to 1 New York Mercury, July 4, 1768. 2 New York Gazette, January 9, 1769. resume that Practise, on a proper Recommendation, from Gentlemen of the Faculty; and will most carefully, tenderly, and punctually, attend those Ladies who may please to favour her with their Commands, on a firm dependance of exerting her Ability and utmost Endeavours, not only to merit their Esteem, but to prove herself on all Occasions, the Publick's very respectful and Obedient Servant, SARAH RIDGELY N.B. All letter or Messages to Mrs. Ridgely, at her House opposite William Smith's, jun. Esq., in the Broadway, will meet the due regard. If it was true that the employment of men physicians for obstetrical cases was more common in Boston than anywhere else, there may have been a secondary reason for the removal to Salem noted in the following card.1 This is interesting, as being the only instance found where a midwife specifically claims to have received instruction: Mary Bass, midwife, from Boston, Beggs leave to inform the Ladies in this Place and the Vicinity, That having been instructed and recommended by the First Practioners in Midwifery in Boston; in compliance with the Request of Several Ladies, she has removed to Salem, where she intends to Pursue the Business of Midwifery. Any Lady, who may favour her with her Commands, may depend upon her earliest and best Attendance. Enquire at the House of Mr. Osgood, the corner of Prison Lane. 1 Essex County Gazette, July 14, 1772. Perhaps the corner of Prison Lane did not prove an enjoyable location; at any rate, Mary Bass gave notice to her patrons the following year that she had moved opposite St. Peter's Church. She continued to advertise her readiness to serve until the Revolution put a stop to the newspaper. Not only were our modern doctors and nurses foreshadowed in colonial times, but our toofamiliar "benefactors of the race," who discover panaceas, have their early prototypes as well. The most advertised remedy in colonial newspapers (excepting only "Turlington's Balsam of Life") was "Mary Bannister's Drops of Spirit of Venice Treacle." In 1731, Edward Bannister announced in the Philadelphia paper that he could supply these drops;1 it may be supposed that their originator had died before this date. Evidently this remedy received the compliment of imitation, for the "Boston Evening Post" in 1741 has a notice signed by Humphrey Wady, cautioning the public to beware of counterfeits, "there being no Person but myself and wife in New England that ever my Mother Bannister communicated the secret to." Several women labored to preserve the health of the Pennsylvania public. In 1744, Ann Tatnall, of Darby, Chester County, announced that she 1 American Mercury, July 1, 1731. continued to make her "Powders" as formerly; 1 in 1748, Sarah Murray, of Philadelphia, gave notice that she prepared and sold "Tar Water, from the best tar.2 The first of many similar advertisements appeared in September, 1751, as follows: 3 Catherine Deimer, at the upper end of Germantown, at the house of Isaac Will, hereby gives notice, that those that are afflicted with scald heads, and will apply to her, may find immediate relief. If she does not cure it effectually, she asks no money. Those inclined to make use of her, are desired to do so before the weather grows cold, because there is a greater difficulty and expense in the cure in cold than in warm weather. Apparently she prospered, for in 1754 she gave her address "At the sign of the Comb," and went on, "having for many years past had the practise of curing that most raging distemper commonly called The Scald Head," etc.4 Two years later she announced that she would sell the salve, for the benefit of those living at a distance. Mrs. Deimer seems to have died in 1761 or 1762, for in July, 1762, John and Elizabeth Bellin, also at the "Sign of the Comb," have a long announcement that 1 Pennsylvania Gazette, February 17, 1744. • Ibid., July 4, 1754. Ibid., September 5, 1751. |