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Facts and Events
Martha Ballard's Account of the Death of Susanna Clayton and Her Infant Son
In her diary, Martha Ballard, who was Susanna Clayton's midwife, gave the following account of the birth and subsequent deaths of mother and child.
Quoted from The History of Augusta, by Charles Elventon Nash and Martha Moore Ballard, pg 262-3.
- [15 Aug 1787] I was called to Mrs. Claton, in travail, at 11 o'clock, evening...
- [16 Aug 1787] At Mr. Cowen's. Put Mrs. Claton to bed with a son at 3 p. m...
- [20 Aug 1787] Mr. Hinkley brought me to Mr. Weston's. I heard there that Mrs. Claton's child departed this life yesterday, and that she was thot expiring. I went back with Mr. Hinkly as far as there. She departed this life about 1 p. m. I asisted to lay her out; her infant laid in her arms, the first such instance I ever saw, and the first woman that died in childbed which I delivered...
- [22 Aug 1787] I attended funeral of Mrs. Claton and her infant, p. m.
References
- ↑ Susanah Cowen, in Maine, United States. Maine Births and Christenings, 1739-1900. (FamilySearch Record Search).
- ↑ Nash, Charles Elventon, and Martha Moore Ballard. The history of Augusta: first settlements and early days as a town, including the diary of Mrs. Martha Moore Ballard (1785 to 1812). (Augusta, Maine: Charles E. Nash, 1904 [i.e. c1961])
262-3.
- ↑ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. A midwife's tale: the life of Martha Ballard, based on her diary, 1785-1812. (New York: Knopf, 1992)
44-45.
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