The twilight years of Martha and Ephraim

Martha’s life continued at it had always done. She gardened, sewed, cared for her grandchildren, nursed the sick, laid out the dead, and delivered babies ~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Sally Patten

Our cousin Sally Patten (5C6X) lived in Hallowell and was one of the women that helped Martha from time to time. Sally married her (and our) cousin Thomas Patten (4C7X), a blacksmith.  Martha had delivered Sally's first child in 1786. According to Ulrich, "Sally Patten had the most passive role. As a watcher, her job was to sit beside the patient, offering comfort or conversation, noting alterations in breathing, color, or demeanor, summoning help when it was needed.

Ulrich also wrote that:

birth, illness, and death wove Hallowell’s female community together. Consider two bland sentences from the entry for August 14, the day of William McMaster’s funeral: “Mrs Patten here,” Sally Patten, who had come to the McMasters’ to watch with Billy, had helped Martha prepare his body for burial.

the toils and travails of life

In 1792, Martha recorded three marriages of her children. Of particular note was her son Jonathan (3C6X) who had "reluctantly" married a woman who had filed a paternity suit against him. Jonathan would continue to cause problems for his parents for the next decade. From Martha's diary:

July 19, 1791  Sally Declard that my Son Jon was the father of her Child.

October 24, 1791 Sally Peirce Swore a Child on my son Jon & he was taken with a warrent.  mr Abisha Cowen is his Bonds man for appearance at Coart.           

The family travails continued in 1795 when Ephraim turned 70 and Martha turned 60. With her daughters gone, Martha was left to struggle alone with the household chores and midwife duties. Ulrich writes that:

In February, while she (Martha) was climbing “mountains of ice” at the Husseys’ landing (“allmost fatagud to death”), Ephraim was inching his way through crusted snow along the river between Hallowell and Vassalboro. In late April, when she was falling from her horse on a muddy road to the Hook, he was in East Andover hacking his way from beech tree to elm. In June, while she was weeding beans and cucumbers and bleaching cloth and nursing the sick, he was leading a gang of men “Laying out a road to New Sharon on Sandy river.” Ephraim spent a total of fifty-nine nights in the woods in 1795, not quite as many as Martha passed sitting with laboring women or coiled in wakefulness in unfamiliar beds, yet for a man who had seen his seventieth birthday it was a notable record. Endurance was a theme of his life as of hers.

On January 15, 1796, less than a month before her 62nd birthday Martha wrote in her journal: “How long God will preserve my strength to perform as I have done of late he only knows,”

The worst to happen, however was the death of one of the Ballard's daughters in 1798. Ulrich wrote that "Ballard nursed her daughter through a long illness with persistence and hope, but meets Lucy's (3C6X) death with acceptance and a prayer."

moving into old age

In 1800, after leasing property from others for so many years, Ephraim finally built a house of his own on land that seems always to have been in son Jonathan’s name. Life continued hard for the Ballards, however. Ulrich writes that Martha's prayer "'God grant me strength to bear my toil and affliction' was repeated over and over, and eventually God, or Ephraim, heard. On November 28, 1800, when she was doubled over with a fit of 'colic,' he got out of bed, made her some tea, and warmed a brick for her stomach."

Ephraim continued to have troubles of his own in his surveying business. In August of 1802 he was scared off a job at Balltown "by a party of armed settlers. . . On his quitting the ground, fifteen guns at least were discharged within his hearing with intent to terrify and deter him from a similar attempt." Ephraim's problems, however, generally seemed to turn into a problem for Martha who recorded the incident in her diary:

My Lott is Singular but with patience I wish to Conform to it. My husband returned at Evening from Ballstown much fatagued with his Journey. Had a fitt of shakeing. I heat a Blankett and put it about him at about 3 hour morning. He being relaxed dirtied the Bed. I rose, shirted him and removed the dirty lining. Went to Bed again but was so Cold that I Could not sleep. I rose again before the sun rose. Washt the things which were unclean but felt so unfitt to attend worship that I tarried at home. . .O my God when will the Time be when I may have it in my power to go to thy house to worship again?

As the years passed, Martha's poor health and fatigue only grew worse. The location of the new house made it difficult for her attend church, one of her only sources of comfort. In 1802, she recorded 75 days of sickness and her childbirth deliveries dropped from 51 in 1799 to only 11 that year. Ulrich writes that, in spite of Martha's health problems, "there was enough work in the house and barn to keep her back stiff and her fingers sore. She knitted, brewed beer, dipped candles, made vinegar from pumpkin parings, colored old clothes in cornstalk dye, leached lye from wood ashes and made soap. There were still lambs to birth and fleeces to wash."

Ephraim's incarceration

In 1804 the Ballard's difficulties escalated into high gear. On January 2, Ephraim, at 79 years of age, was arrested for debt. Martha wrote:

My husband Came home at 4 p.m. Took a little food. Complains of feeling the pain in his stomach, but was Calld by John Sewal to answer an Execution of 800 Dollars. Was by him Conducted to the Jail in Augusta and Commited. Our two sons Jonathan & Ephraim were bound for the Liberty of the yard for him. I pray the great Parent of the universe to protect him and giv him Comfort in his present tryal.

Ephraim's arrest came about from an extremely "unfortunate aspect of carrying out the job of tax collector." Tax collectors had to sign notes that bound them to collect the full amount of money owed by taxpayers in a given town. Ephraim's collection that year had fallen short by $800. According to Ulrich:

The town had no choice but to imprison him. . .when a collector failed in his duty, and when his own property was insufficient to cover the deficiency, the sheriff or his deputy was “empowered and required” to take the body of the man. No sentimental regard for the man’s age or for his years of service could abrogate the law. He would be treated like other debtors.

Since Ephraim’s inventoried wealth at the time only amounted to about $600, not enough to cover the $800, he was arrested and thrown into jail. Ephraim did have one recourse, however. When Martha wrote that her sons had been "bound for the Liberty of the yard for him,” she meant that they had posted a bond that allowed Eprhaim to leave prison in the daytime to work and return every night to serve out his time.

Martha continued to support and comfort him in spite of her own health issues. in January of 1805 she wrote "I have partly mended a Coat for my poor Confined Husband who is suffering for want of it.” Ulrich expounds on what it cost Martha to make that coat Ephraim:

She had traveled to see him a few days before, slipped on the Lambards’ doorstep and broken her foot, and was now back at home, lame and ailing. “I have been very ill this night,” she wrote on January 26. “Very ill with pain in my head & Back,” she continued on January 27. On January 29, she wrote, “A severe snow storm. I have kept my bed the most of this day but thro God’s goodness some Easier this afternoon. I have taken a little gruel with a small pice of Cracker.” Then, on January 29, she recorded the entry about Ephraim’s coat. For her and for him, each stitch was a small victory over adversity.

To make matters worse, the same year that Ephraim was jailed, the Ballard's son Jonathon was arrested twice, also for debt. In both cases, the family was able to meet the challenge by paying off what Jonathan owed and he was released from jail. For Ephraim, however, Ulrich wrote, "[I]t was far better to let his sureties complete the tax collection than to use his or his family’s resources to settle the town’s account. . .As a consequence, he spent one year, four months, and twenty-seven days going up the hill to Augusta jail at night."

The lot of the Ballard's could have been far worse. Ulrich maintains that:

Ephraim had no children 'in the wood in want,' nor was Martha one of those ragged debtors’ wives “with a child under one arm and a few quarts of begged or borrowed meal under the other.” She had a cow and pigs and enough potatoes in the cellar to pay Mr. Wyman when he came to hoop her barrel. . .Martha’s life continued at it had always done. She gardened, sewed, cared for her grandchildren, nursed the sick, laid out the dead, and delivered babies. . . In the year and a half Ephraim was in jail, she delivered five grandchildren, and helped to bury three.

Note: Mr. Wyman was our cousin Dean Wyman (6C5X).

troubles with Jonathan

Son Jonathan was becoming a particular thorn in Martha's side, particularly when he had been drinking. On March 1806, Martha wrote “What a scean had I to go at Evening,” Jonathan had burst into her house in a rage. Martha wrote that she had found herself "immobilized, psychologically struck down." At another of her son's outbursts, Martha wrote "It overcame me so much I was not able to sett up. I Could wish he might see the folly and Evil of such Conduct and reform."

Martha's relationship with her son had become "increasingly tense," since Ephraim's stint in jail but it was to get far worse. Jonathan, needing a better home for his family, saw an opportunity in his parents' newly built house. One day when Martha returned from a delivery, her son and his wife Sally had unceremoniously moved in and she became "a lodger in her own house, taking one room as her own, giving over the rest to her son's family."

Martha wrote that her daughter-in-law was "an inconsiderate or very impudent woman to treat me as shee does,” adding that if Sally couldn’t “shew more maners and discretion,” she should “hold her peace for the future.”

For some reason, during this time, she didn't see Ephraim often. On April 26, Martha wrote, "It is 9 weaks and 4 days since I saw my husband but hear he is wel for which I would Bless God.” But Ephraim's ordeal was almost over. By May, his debt had been paid. The fact that he was now "liable for sheriffs fees and his jail expenses" added insult to injury. Finally, however, on May 29, Martha wrote, “My Husband was sett at Liberty.”

But if Martha thought her husband’s release would remove Jonathan’s family from the house, she was mistaken. On June 7, “Daughter Ballard (Sally) told me if I wanted the privaledge of my house I should not have it this sumer. I Coaid wish to see peace.” On July 27, “Jonathan' s wife has shewn her tantrums. I could wish it might be the will of God that I might see other treatment.” On August 11, “I could not sleep for noise in Jonathans famely. I rose lit my Candle & wrote this.”

For her own peace of mind, Martha started going to Jonathan's old house. One day when she was returning to her own house she found "the door fastened upon me twice. . ." In September, to Martha's great relief, Jonathan and his family finally went back to their old house. She "celebrated by cleaning her bedroom and buttery and moving furniture."

Jonathan eventually built a new house for his family and sold his old house to our cousin Dean Wyman. The Wymans were evidently good neighbors to the Ballards, "ready to send small presents or exchange work."

the Purrington tragedy

In 1806 Martha wrote of a terrible happening in Hallowell. James Purrington, "fallen on hard times and not wanting to leave his family to suffer, took the course of attempting to end all of their lives." On the night of July 8th, 1806, he took and axe and a straight razor, and made his way through every room in the house, killing almost his entire family before killing himself. From Martha's diary:

. . .My Husband & I were awake at 3 hour this morning by Mrs Heartwel and Gillbard who brot us the horrible tydings that Captain Purington had murdered all his famely Except his son James who must have shared the same fate had he not been so fortunate as to make his Escape after an attempt was made to take his life. He was wounded with an ax. He fled in his shirt only and alarmd Mr Wiman of the horrid scein who immediately ran to son Jonathans. They two went to house where the horrid scein was perpetrated. My son went in and found a Candle, which he lit and to his great surprise said Purington, his wife, & six Children Corps! and Martha (one of the children) he perceived had life remaining who was removd to his house. Surgical aid was immediately Calld and she remains alive as yet. My husband went and returned before sunrise when after takeing a little food he and I went on to the house there to behold the most shocking scein that was Ever seen in this part of the world. May an infinitely good God grant that we may all take a sutable notis of this horrid deed, learn wisdom therefrom. The Corps were removd to his Barn where they were washt and Laid out side by side. A horrid spectakle which many hundred persons Came to behold. I was there till near night when Son Jonathan Conducted me to his house and gave me refreshment. The Coffins were brot and the Corps Carried in a Waggon & deposited in Augusta meeting hous.

Peter Edes, who was the editor of Augusta’s Kennebec Gazette, wrote a broadside entitled "Horrid Murder" detailing the horrific even. He described the scene, body by body with the father “Prostrate on his face, and weltering in his gore. . .In an adjoining bed room lay Mrs. Purrinton in her bed with her head almost severed from her body; and near her on the floor, a little daughter about ten years old, who probably hearing the cries of her mother, ran to her relief from the apartment in which she slept, and was murdered by her side.” Three boys, 12, 8 and 6, were also murdered by their father. One daughter and a son survived the attack.

Sadly, that wasn't the only tragedy in the neighborhood. On March 15, just eight months after the Purrinton horror, Martha wrote about the suicide of her niece Besty Barton Gill's husband. The couple had been married at the Ballard house.

We were informd about 10 hour this morn that our friend Charles Gill had Cutt his Throat with a Shave in so horrable a manner that no hopes of his life remain. May God of his infinite goodness support his wife and all connections in this dreadful tryal. I went to his hous about 10 Clock, found he was Expired. He had his sense & wrote some lines. Mrs Gills Tryal is all most insupportable.

old age and death

In 1807, Martha tunred 72 and Ephraim 82. They were now definitely feeling their age. On August 3 she wrote, “I feel very feeble. My husband complains also. We seem to be a feeble couple. May the Great parent support us thro life and may we be conformed to his will is the desire of me his undeserving hand maid.”

Son Jonathan and his wife Sally had moved into their new house, relieving much of Martha's tension. Almost every night, however, one or more of Jonathon's children spent the night with their grandparents as support for the aging couple.

In spite of her age and health problems, Martha's services as a midwife were still needed. In the first four months of 1812, she delivered fourteen babies, her yearly total for the year before. Martha was now 77 years old, fatigued, and suffering "ague fitts." When she felt especially bad, she would take "hirapicra & Camphr" and take to her bed.

Martha's last delivery was in April of 1812. She went to Mrs. Heath's house on the 24th and stayed with her until the birth. Martha wrote, "We have slept little. I have had ague fitts yesterday & to day." The baby was born at 4:30 a.m on the 26th and Martha finally left for home around noon. The next day, Martha wrote, "I have been very ill."

Martha's last diary entries:

May 4: Clear. Mr. Ballard to Town meeting. Dolly Lambard came to help me.

May 5: Snowd and very Cold. I have flet very feeble."

May 6: A very stormy day. I do not fel any better.

May 7: Clear the most of the day & very Cold & windy. Daughter Ballard and a Number of her Children here. Mrs. Partridge & Smith allso. Revered Mr. Tappin Came and Converst swetly and mad a prayer adapted to my Case.

May 7th was Martha's last diary entry. She died three weeks later. As Ulrich noted, ". . .the life she recorded closes here, as she would have wished, with a roomful of visitors and a prayer."

Martha delivered 816 babies over the 27 years that she wrote her diary and was present at more than 1,000 births.

Ephaim lived another nine years after Martha’s death. He died in 1821, at the age of ninety-six.

Of Martha's life Ulrich wrote:

Martha did not leave a farm but a life, recorded patiently and consistently for twenty-seven years. No gravestone bears her name, though perhaps somewhere in the waste places along Belgrade Road there still grow clumps of camomile or feverfew escaped from her garden.

Timeline of the diary

That Martha Ballard kept her diary is one small miracle; that her descendants saved it is another. ~ Laura Thather Ulrich

1812: The diary goes to Martha's daughter Dolly Ballard Lambard (3C6X).

1861: The diary is passed on to Dolly's daughters, Sarah (4C5X) and Hannah (4C5X).

1884: The diary is given to Sarah and Hannah's grand-niece (Martha's great-great-granddaughter) Mary Hobart (6C3X). Mary completed her medical degree that same year.

1930: Mary donates the diary to the Maine State Library in Augusta.

1982: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's book Good Wives is published and she "discovers" Martha Ballard's diary.

1991: A Midwife's Tale wins the Pulitzer Prize.

1992: A transcription of Martha Ballard's diary, by Robert and Cynthia McCausland, is published. The couple later spent ten years producing a verbatim transcription of the diary, which they made freely available online as well as for purchase in hard-copy.

1997: The film A Midwife's Tale is released.