Children

Clarrisa Beebe and son

Childbearing was a challenge. Successfully rearing all children born to a woman was rare. Before the advent of modern medical practices, modern transportation, and modern communication networks, women had to rely on themselves and nearby women to help get them safely through labor and delivery. Many women were adept in midwifery, a skill that was learned first hand from another midwife. Granny doctors, as they were called, would go and stay with expectant mothers before or at the beginning of labor, deliver the baby, and give postpartum care as long as it was necessary.

Raising children was another major responsibility for women. Women typically had several children, and for most of their lives women cared for infants, washed diapers, and reared children. The wife was a caregiver, teacher, nurse, and disciplinarian. It was up to the mother to prepare her children for life in an uncertain world. When sickness entered the home, the wife-mother became the nurse. Home care was administered until the situation demanded a medical doctor, who in most cases could be miles away. Nursing expertise was learned or passed down from generation to generation.

Unknown mother and child

These women had to contend not only with the minor mishaps of everyday life such as cuts, sprains, burns, insect and snake bites, but also they were faced with the dreaded, life-threatening diseases of influenza, malaria, small pox, diphtheria, yellow fever, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pneumonia, whooping cough, and consumption. Most were skilled in the use of home remedies, which they concocted from herbs and other woodland flora as well as from garden, orchard, kitchen and even barnyard products.

Photographs courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission

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