This week’s #FridayFind is… a record of birth!

But maybe not the kind you’re imagining.

If you’re familiar with genealogy research, you might know that one of the difficulties is the relative newness of civil records such as birth certificates. This is often where church records come in, particularly baptismal records, but there’s another, although much, much rarer source: a midwife’s diary.

Martha Ballard, the author of the diary featured [below], was one such midwife. In her diary she kept record of the countless births she attended from 1785 til her death in 1812, giving incredible insight into many lives we would otherwise have no documentation for.

Where’s the least likely place you’ve found an ancestor’s birth documented? Send us an email at emma@backlog-archivists.com