A Midwife's Tale

I just finished this fascinating book of a Maine midwife of the 17th century.  She is a very distant cousin of mine.  The book written by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, is based on the diary Martha kept for 27 years in Hallowell, Maine.  The diary is in the Maine State Archives, and I hope to see it one day.  PBS did a documentary of her life which I also have. (Here's a link to the trailer.)   It is rare to have this sort of personal history written by a woman of that time. It made me think of the photo diary I've kept for 10 years. I print my posts out and save them in a binder, a sort of visual diary.  There is a passage at the end of the book that resonated with me, "For some complex of reasons, probably unknown even to her, Martha felt an intense need to re-create her own life day by day in her diary.  As a consequence, she left a eulogy more powerful than any New England pastor was capable of preaching."   Our day-to-day life is our personal history, and all stories are worth keeping.

A genealogical hint.  When researching your ancestors, don't just focus on the direct descendants.  Look at the siblings of your direct descendant.  I've found so much fascinating stories that way.  Martha is one of them.  "Cousin connections" I call them.