Friday Finds: An Old German Midwife’s Record
Update (7/4/2011): I’ve added the possible names of children and their parents where I have information. As you can see there’s more to add. If you have information that fits, please send me an email. Thanks.
An Old German Midwife’s Record, 1795-1815
Yesterday, I was poking around online trying to find Huber information when I came across the most wonderful article. I found a book entitled The American Ethnographical Survey, Conestoga Expedition, 1902. In it there was an article that included a transcription of an old German midwife’s record.1
Susanna (Rohrer) Müller (aka Miller) lived in Martic (now Providence) Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and served as a midwife from 1792 through 1815 when she died. She kept a careful record of her practice. It included the date, the number of children, the name of the family, and how much she charged them in pounds, shilling and pence. She scrupulously tried to capture the family name as she heard it. This record is a wonderful find for a genealogist—both as a possible source for birth information and as a German speakers record of both German and English names.
Scrolling through the pages, I recognized many, many names from my deed research in the Martic and Conestoga townships area. The following is a list of Huber/Hoover families she served and the relevant dates:
- 20 Dec 1795: Henrich Huber
- 24 Apr 1796: Martin Huber
- 5 Oct 1796: Hans Huber
- 19 Mar 1797: Abraham Huber [Christianna, daughter of Abraham & Anna (Huber) Huber?]
- 29 Sep 1797: Henrich Huber
- 20 Nov 1797: Hans Huber
- 11 Dec 1797: Marde [Martin] Huber [Jacob, son of Martin & Mary (Miller) Huber]
- 23 Feb 1799: Henrich Huber
- 20 Mar 1799: Abraham Huber [Anna, daughter of Abraham & Anna (Huber) Huber?]
- 19 Nov 1799: Peter Huber [Esther, daughter of Peter & Mary (Huber) Huber?]
- 28 Mar 1800: Marde [Martin] Huber [Martin Jr., son of Martin & Mary (Miller) Huber]
- 29 May 1800: Hener [Henry] Huber [Benjamin, son of Henry & Barbara (Huber) Huber, daughter of Jacob Huber Jr.?]
- 4 Jul 1800: Christle [Christian] Huber [Christian Jr., son of Christian Huber]
- 17 Mar 1801: Abraham Huber [Mary, daughter of Abraham & Anna (Huber) Huber?]
- 1 Aug 1801: Martin Huber, Schreiner [Martin, son of Martin & Mary (Eshleman) Huber?]
- 6 Oct 1801: Hans Huber
- 1 Feb 1802: Abraham Huber
- 2 Sep 1802: Martin Huber [Samuel, son of Martin & Mary (Miller) Huber]
- 12 May 1803: Henner [Henry] Huber [child of Henry & Barbara (Huber) Huber, daughter of Jacob Huber Jr.?]
- 28 Jun 1803: Marden Huber, Schreiner [Anna or Elizabeth, daughter of Martin & Mary (Eshleman) Huber?]
- 26 Mar 1804: Abraham Huber
- 8 Apr 1804: Peder [Peter] Huber [John, son of Peter & Mary (Huber) Huber]
- 21 Jun 1804: Henrich Huber
- 17 Sep 1805: Hanes [Johannes] Huber, Maurer
- 27 Mar 1806: Abraham Huber [Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham & Anna (Huber?) Huber]
- 27 Feb 1807: Jacob Huber
- 26 Apr 1807: Jacob Huber, living with Peder [Peter] Guth [Good]
- 25 May 1807: Christle Huber
- 17-23 Jun 1807: Marde Huber, Schreiner2 [child of Martin and Mary (Eshleman) Huber?]
- 3 Mar 1808: Mardin Huber, Schreiner [child of Martin and Mary (Eshleman) Huber?]
- 20 Sep 1808: Hans Huber, Maurer
- 14 Apr 1809: Abraham Huber, Schumacher [Jacob, son of Abraham & Mary (Huber?) Huber]
- 23 Mar 1810: Marde Huber [possibly David, son of Martin & Mary (Miller) Huber]
- 14 Aug 1810: Hans Huber, Maurer
- 5 Apr 1811: Henrich Huber
- 5 Sep 1811: Abraham Huber, Wewer
- 17 Oct 1811: Mardin Huber, Schreiner [Barbara, daughter of Martin & Mary (Eshleman) Huber?]
- 15 Nov 1811: Jacob Huber
- 24 Dec 1811: Abraham Huber
- 17 Oct 1812: John Huber, Maurer
- 30 Nov 1812: Marden Huber [possibly Mary, daughter of Martin & Mary (Miller) Huber]
- 2 Dec 1812: Henrich Huber
- 9 Jul 1813: Jacob Huber
- 18 Sep 1813: Abraham Huber
- 15 Feb 1814: Abraham Huber
- 13 Sep 1814: Abraham Huber, Wewer
- 12 Apr 1815: John Huber, Maurer
- 21 Apr 1815: Abraham Huber, Schum. [daughter of Abraham & Mary (Huber?) Huber?]
- 24 May 1815: Daniel Huber [Catharine, daughter of Daniel & Susanna (Moyer?) Huber?]
- 19 Sep 1815: Abraham Huber
- 30 Mar ??: Martin Huber
Some of the entries indicate an occupation. I’ve translated them, as follows:
- Schreiner = carpenter
- Maurer = mason
- Schumacher = shoemaker
- Wewer = weaver?
Unfortunately, the entries do not include the names of the babies she delivered. However, using other documents that provide approximate birth dates with the dates in this record could help determine exact birth dates for children born in this area in the late 1790s and early 1800s.
You never know what you’ll find online. I’m certainly glad that I followed this search result!
Footnotes
- M.D. Learned and C.F. Breede, editors, “An Old German Midwife’s Record,” The American Ethnographical Survey, Conestoga Expedition, 1902 (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1911), pages 7-44; online, Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/stream/americanethnogra01lear#page/n45/mode/2up : accessed 10 Jun 2011). ↩
- There was no date with this entry. The date from the previous entry was 17 Jun 1807 and from the following entry 23 Jun 1807. ↩
Cite This Page:
Kris Hocker, "Friday Finds: An Old German Midwife’s Record," A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy, the genealogy & family research site of Kris Hocker, modified 9 Apr 2016 (https://www.krishocker.com/friday-find-an-old-german-midwifes-record/ : accessed 2 Nov 2024).
Content copyright © 2016 Kris Hocker. Please do not copy without prior permission, attribution, and link back to this page.
6 Replies to “Friday Finds: An Old German Midwife’s Record”
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Kris,
Schreiner does not translate as carpenter in the hierarchy of germanic woodworking trades. A schreiner is a skilled furniture maker, working in more expensive hardwoods. A kistmacher makes boxes…a tischler makes tables and probably operates a lathe as well. A zimmerman is a carpenter. To be fair by the time our ancestors acculturated these terms may have lost some of their traditional hierarchical rigidity. The account book of Abraham Hover (Hoover, Huber) form Martic twp., as I recall shows not only Schranke and kuchenshranke but some plans for a structure (appears to be a barn). These are notes from his apprenticeship (ca 1797 apparently) so his master was operating in an economy where divisions of craft were less stringent than the continent.
Thanks for all of your very informative work!
Thanks for your comment, Joseph. Very informative! Google translate did not make that distinction in translating “schreiner.”
I suspect you’re correct about the trades. I believe that life for tradesman in the colonies was quite a bit less restrictive with considerable more freedom for the individual than in Europe. Part of the attraction of immigration, I would bet.
Kris,
As a furniture maker and restorer this area is of particular interest to me (at least). Especially any Germanic work. If you are interested see: German Influences in Pennsylvania Furniture (Benno Foman) in Arts of the Pennsylvania Germans ISBN 0-393-01749-4
Do you have a copy of Abraham Hoover’s account book?
If only. There is supposed to be a copy in the Downs Manuscript collection at Winterthur, originally held by the Lancaster county Historical Museum….I corresponded with a Wendel Zercher regarding it several years ago and he sent me some photocopies. It was partially reproduced in an issue of Spinning Wheel magazine an article by John J. Snyder I believe. That account book ended up having additional apparently later entries by a Levy (Levi?) Huber in 1835.
Additionally, I have an Andrew Hoover Theory I have been wanting to run by you….perhaps one you may not have heard of.
Levi Huber was most likely his son.
I’d love to hear your theory regarding Andrew Hoover. Just get in touch.