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The lives of 18th century women were not very well documented. In fact most historians would have laughed when asked for good historical material on those women. However, the Diary of Martha Maud Ballard gives us a detailed view of the time period in which those women lived, and how they played a part in it. Laurel Ulrich, a historian who painstakingly transcribed the diary, interpreted the lives of the people living around Martha Ballard, and Martha Ballard herself.
Post-Revolutionary era frontier life was difficult on women. They could not make the same wages as men, midwifery was the highest paying profession for a woman at the time. Midwifery was a medical profession, and Martha Ballard was often involved in the curing of illness, the delivery of babies, and other such medically relative events. Ballard, on September 2, 1794, wrote in her diary that, “[She] walkt to mr Pittss this morn where [she] Saw the opperation of a Dessection performd on his Deseased wife. her Lights......

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Approximate Word Count: 525
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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