A Midwife’s Tale; An interactive website

Martha Ballard lived through most of the 18th century. The infantile cry of early America pierced the quiet throughout this remarkable woman’s life. Her surviving diary unveils her busy life as a midwife in Maine, detailing nuances of the era and the secret world of childbirth during the 1700s. We see from her diary that a midwife’s role not only entailed assisting in childbirth, but caring for the sick and dying as well. Martha Ballard was an incredibly busy woman. The constant pace of Martha’s work is surprisingly similar to modern ambitious lifestyles.

There is a great website hosted by The Center for History and New Media that enriches the book and movie experience, A Midwife’s Tale at http://dohistory.org/. The site offers a magic lens that can be hovered over the diary pages to instantly transcribe Martha’s script. The diary is also broken down into transcribed relevant categories, some of which include her accounts of a scarlet fever epidemic and a murderous scandal. Especially helpful to genealogists, there is a separate section that provides tips on transcribing original documents and other research information.

Dropsy, and Researching Other Archaic Medical Terms

Put Dropsy in Yahoo search and you’ll likely end up with the latest news in aquarium maintenance, which is great, if you need to know what’s ailing your sick goldfish. The search results aren’t nearly as helpful if you were trying to find out what dropsy is because you learned your great-great grandfather died from it.

For genealogists and those researching their family medical history, there are a number of resources that offer information about outdated medical terms. One such source is the Encyclopedia of Genealogy, a free to use collaborative encyclopedia. When I typed in dropsy in their search box, the following was returned.

“Dropsy, now known as edema, is a condition of excess watery fluid in the tissues or cavities of the body; also congestive heart failure from whatever cause.”

While their definition is a little vague, it’s a good starting point. From this information you could ascertain that your great-great grandfather suffered from fluid build up somewhere in his body. But, if your anything like me, that little bit of information wouldn’t be enough to satisfy curiosity. I found a reference to dropsy on Medicinenet.com that was a bit more descriptive, which explains that dropsy is a symptom rather than a cause of disease.

Speaking of symptoms rather than causes, when it comes to terminology of the past, a great deal of reading between the lines is necessary. Causes of death given within the limited scope of our ancestors’ knowledge of disease and illness can often require more than a simple translation from old to new lingo. For instance, we now know dropsy to be edema, and the term on it’s own might suggest an ancestor’s heart condition. But, terms like, “dropsy of the brain,” were also used in times past. If we think of dropsy as excess fluid, or edema, we know that dropsy of the brain might be what we refer to as encephalitis, today. In fact, not only was dropsy used as a general term meaning edema, but also a specified region in the body was given along with it, providing better clues to the actual condition the person suffered from, in today’s terms. I looked extensively within genealogy resources on the web for glossaries of archaic medical terms, and I found many of them, but most that I found did not provide sources for the information therein. After a whole lot of searching on the Internet, a website turned up that provides a wealth of information on outdated medical terms (listing sources.) On the home page of Rudy’s List of Archaic Medical Terms: The Genealogists Resource for Interpreting Causes of Death, the following is stated on the home page.

“Antiquus Morbus is a collection of archaic medical terms and their old and modern definitions. The primary focus of this web site is to help decipher the causes of death found on mortality lists, certificates of death and church death records from the 19th century and earlier. This web site will be updated often and as new information is received. My intention is to collect and record old medical terms in all European languages. The English and German lists are the most extensive to date.”

If you’re looking for information about a cause of death of an ancestor, be it dropsy, consumption, typhoid, or putrid flux, you name it, you’ll find it in Rudy’s Glossary. The web site also offers an extensive collection of facts about alcohol and drug related illnesses pertaining to outdated terminology.

Note: For the record, I have no medical background. The article here is not intended to provide proper medical information; it is meant to be a resource for genealogists researching causes of death.

Are Books a Modern Anomaly?

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer reading a good book or magazine to the vastness of the Internet. The tools of the information age are great and all, and I’ll admit it’s hard to resist the power of universal knowledge at the click of a mouse, but there’s several things I find unappealing about reading material from the computer. One, the monitor taxes my eyes. Two, search engines offer me too many choices at one time. Three, many websites are too busy blinking and showing off their latest gadgets for me to focus on what I came there for in the first place. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not knocking the Internet’s usefulness. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a Google junky, completely addicted to random, absurd searches that serve absolutely no purpose (I was an only child, I’m easily amused.) When it comes to genealogy especially, my computer sees three times more action than my bookshelf. For research purposes, the Internet is more accessible, more convenient, and wider reaching. But, despite all the Internet’s glory, I still go out of my way to run to the bookstore for the latest issue of Genealogy magazine or a historical bestseller I’m curious about. There’s just something special about paper copy, maybe it’s the tangibility of it, the fact that we can posses it, that makes it stubbornly and timelessly appealing.

I’m curious about how many other genealogists buy or borrow paper copy information from libraries or bookstores. Do you buy magazines related to the subject? Do you conduct research solely from the Internet, or utilize both kinds of material? Is there anything you’ve noticed that certain physical resources have to offer that the Internet does not? Please drop a comment; I would love to hear your thoughts.

Where to Start Genealogical Research on the Web

If your just getting started in the world of genealogy, chances are my blog isn’t your first stop on the internet. However, I can tell you where to go to begin your journey exploring the past. Cyndi’s List, the “genealogy starting point online for more than a decade,” is the premier source for guidance in ancestry research. Cyndi’s list offers a painstakingly categorized index of more than 300,000 links to pertinent genealogical resources on the web.

7 Tips for using local history in genealogical research

If you’ve obtained some facts about an ancestor and have burning questions or you just want to bring their story more fully to life, consider these 7 tips for using local historical information to unlock the mysteries of your dearly departed.

1. 
   Make a timeline of the known events of your ancestor’s life, and write down the specific questions you have in order of importance.
2. 
   Get familiar with the area that your ancestor is from. Use a printable map to track his or her movement.
3. 
   Google the areas of interest. Try key words like, “history of Lewis County, Kentucky” or “Ohio valley during the Civil War.”
4. 
   As you research areas, take note of important dates and compare them to the events you know about your ancestor. Your goal is to fit your ancestor into his surroundings.
5. 
   Within the results of your Google search, pay close attention to the stories of influential people, like politicians. Ask yourself how their actions might have impacted your ancestor’s daily life.
6. 
   Check the local historical or genealogical area’s websites for information about other citizens of the town, clues to your questions might be found in their stories.
7. 
   Use the same key words you used in your Google search to find books about the subject matter. Local historical and genealogical websites are a great source for books pertaining to your specific needs.