| The Midwives of Salem |
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| By Cathy Hartt, RN, CNM, MS |
| music: Granny (The Witch Song) www.angelfire.com/ks/tomes2/CalontirSongs/granny.htm |
| Imagine you are in midwife in the year 1692, living in Salem, MA. You are a Puritan in your beliefs and see your role as one of assisting women through the cycles of life. You see birth as the role of the women; a chance to overcome the evils of Eve through a type of resurrection brought about by travail (i.e., pain and effort) in childbirth. In this culture, you accept your place as the weaker and more vulnerable gender. Yet, you believe there is female power in the birth process. The women - and only the women - are central to this process, which takes place in the home. Women gather at the home of the laboring woman and there is almost a party atmosphere as early laobr ensues. There are even treats like groaning cake and groaning beer at these events. Your role as midwife is central to the female life cycles of pregnancy, birth and lactation. Perhaps there is some feeling of connection between your world and that of the modern day home-birth midwife. Yet, there are some real differences in that labor is seen as rightfully painful in your worldview - this is God's will and a response to Eve's sin. It is something to be feared and perhaps even dreaded - mothers and babies die frequently - dependent on God's will. There is also an almost total exclusion of men. The only men who might have any influence on your work as an experienced midwife are the ministers and, perhaps, the educated physician. Imagine now that it is the middle of the night. There it comes - the familiar knock on your door by a man seeking your assistance at the birth of a woman from Salem Village. But this knock, sometime in the spring of 1692, is from one of the guards at the dungeon that houses the "witches" awaiting trial and/or execution in Salem. One of the first witches named, Sarah Good, is in labor and needs your help. You know a little about Sarah Good, as the community is abuzz with the news of the witch trials. You know that Sarah was born into a wealthy family but lost her rights to inheritance when her father died years ago. She is now married to a simple laborer in Salem Village. Sarah has become a beggar in order to supplement the family income. She is not well received by the community - seen as both ungracious and foul-mouthed. The pipe she smokes is a potential fire hazard in a community with many haystacks, a place where she frequently naps. Shortly after her arrest, her young daughter (4-year-old Dorcus Good) was also named and imprisoned for witchcraft. Just prior to confessing to the crime (perhaps in order to stay with her mother in prison), Dorcus has provided testimony to help convict her mother. When young Dorcus confesses, she is found to have a witch's teat (probably a flea bite by modern medical diagnosis) on her finger, from which she says she suckles the Devil's familiar. As a midwife, you remember Dorcus because the court called upon one of the other midwives you know to examine and confirm her witch's teat. You, too, have been asked to assist with the physical examinations of many of the accused witches for such teats. These wart-like teats are often found on a woman's private parts, requiring a midwife as examiner. Despite this attempt to preserve modesty, sometimes the exams take place in front of the male magistrates. However, fearing accusations of witchcraft yourself, you comply with assisting when called upon by authorities of the church and court. You have heard that Sarah remained defiant during the trials, despite her pregnancy. Three times while enroute from Salem to her jail cell in Ipswich, she threw herself off of her horse - one time attempting suicide. Somehow, on this night, she has made it to term gestation. As the midwife, you arrive at the dungeon to find this woman in labor surrounded by the most deplorable of conditions. Without the support of her close female friends and relatives or the party atmosphere of early labor, she lies shackled to the ground in a crowded, filthy cell to give birth to her child. Her young daughter, Dorcus, is shackled in the same cell, helplessly watching. There is little or no sanitation or temperature control. The moist, dank stench is overwhelming. While some of the women are willing to help you provide support to this woman, many find Sarah a distasteful character and ignore her, her daughter and the newborn infant. The birth is unremarkable from a midwifery perspective. When your job is done, you are escorted out of the cell and told to return to your home. It is not uncommon in your time to have a child precede its mother in death. But, this time when you hear the news, it seems a little different. Sarah is hung for witchcraft on July 9th, only 4 months after she was named (and jailed) as one of the first three witches. Her infant child died during her prison stay and was rumored to have been malnourished and sickly during his/her short life. Sarah's daughter, Dorcus, is later freed but never learns to function normally in society. In 1710, The General Court reviewed a letter from Sarah's husband, which outlined the injustices done to his family as follows: 1. My wife, Sarah Good, was in prison about four months then executed. 2. A suckling child in prison before the mother's execution. 3. A child of four or five years old (Dorcus Good) was in prison seven or eight months, and being chained in the dungeon was so hardly used and terrified that she hath ever since been very chargable, having little or no reason to govern herself. And I leave unto the honorable Court to judge what damage I have sustained by destruction of my poor family, and so rest Your honor's humble servant, William Good. As a midwife, you remember that spring night as you watch the history unfold. You know you have done all you can and the rest is God's will. [Editor's Note: According to the author of "The Salem Witch Trials", Marilynne K. Roach, "Sarah Good's youngest child was born 10 December 1691 before the witch scare (before Sarah went to prison), as recorded by Reverend Parris in his list of Salem Village births and deaths. The baby died in Boston jail sometime between 5 April 1692 (when the jailer brought two blankets for Sarah Good's infant) and 2 June (one of the afflicted reported the baby's ghost - and apparently had heard that the child had died)." Details of the story are an attempt to closely follow the historic references and recreate the role of midwifes in this culture and community, as well as the lives of Sarah, Dorcus and Infant Good. From a midwifery perspective, it is also noteworthy that the Towne Sisters (Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Cloyse and Mary Easty) are related through marriage to Martha Ballard, a midwife from Boston during the mid-to-late 1700's and the main character in The American Experience's A Midwives Tale. Martha's daughter married Ephraim Towne (a great nephew to Rebecca, Sarah and Mary). Ephraim Towne and his wife lived on the Towne estate after they married. Mary Esty is my great X6 grandmother and the inspiration for much of my writing on this topic.] Our next issue of Empower! will look at the dichotomy of optimism and pessimist in the Salem witch hunts. |
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