Medicine & Midwifery 17th Century

The study of medicine in the seventeenth century of Colonial America was very basic and based more on common sense than science and reason. Although this part of the century was at the cusp of a turning point of how doctors understood medicine, people were less concerned with how the body works and more so with the development of religion. Surgical operations were performed by Barber-Surgeons. The knowledge of human anatomy was still very unclear to many people. In 1628, William Harvey discovered that blood circulates throughout the entire body. However, it was believed that including blood there were four different fluids in the body. A person’s illness was also believed to be due to the body containing too much of one fluid. However, during this period, a more scientific approach was beginning to be implemented by doctors who then began to negate traditional ideas (Colonial America).
Further, women lead a huge role in this time period. They did all the household chores such as cooking, cleaning and caring for their children. As well women did majority of the farming tasks like feeding the animals, keeping the bee hives and planting crops. Additionally, women knew how to treat their family’s illnesses and had knowledge of medicine to ensure their family’s health. Only wealthy people could afford to go to a doctor at the time, thus, a wife took care of most of the ailments that came about. Overall, women were a large part of maintaining structure and health within their family. Although women were closed to certain jobs such as being a teacher, doctor or lawyer, women were able to be domestic servants, shoemakers, dyers, tailors and midwives (Colonial America).
Midwifery was an essential role in Colonial America. Midwives were held in very high regard in society and were known to be very gentle, nurturing as well as very knowledgeable in medicine. They were older women who had several children of their own. They were apprentice-trained and combined running a household with their practice (Midwifery in the United States). Midwives treated the sick and also knew how to make their own medicines. Antiseptic and cleanliness in general was not well implemented and was thought to be unnecessary when giving birth because the birth process was considered to be a natural process, and the delivery should happen without any medicine or unnatural products (Colonial Midwifery).
Although women were not allowed to take on the roles as doctors due to the fact that doctors were viewed as prominent figures and had a great deal more knowledge about human anatomy than the average person, women were still able to be midwives and have a great deal of responsibility and obtained a lot of knowledge without it being seen as a man’s line of work. Midwives not only aided the process of giving birth, but they also had a great deal of knowledge in other aspects of gynecological problems (Colonial Midwifery). Additionally, men in this time period were not at all eager to be responsible for aiding the birth of children due to the fact that they had little to no knowledge of the process as well as that the idea of birth was more focused toward women. Further, Midwives did not allow male physicians or husbands to be in the “lying-in chamber” or the room where a woman gave birth. Thus, women found one of the only areas of specialty they could monopolize at the time (Midwifery Today).
Further, the fact that midwives had such authority as well as influence within their field caused women such as Anne Hutchinson to branch out from their normal role as a wife, mother and keeper of the household to take on new challenges that women of that time period had previously been prohibited from attempting. Anne Hutchinson is known as one of the most famous midwives of the seventeenth century. She had a great knowledge of medicine in addition to being literate, which was not common for women at that time. Immigrating to Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston from England in 1634, Hutchinson began preaching new ideals of the Christian Doctrine that gathered many followers including several male leaders. Not long after, however, Hutchinson was banished from the colony because her ideas were very controversial and too liberal for the time (Anne Hutchinson). Thus, Hutchinson was able to use her status as a midwife to cast an influence across a broad audience when most women were not in the same position to do so. “’She was a woman of haughty and fierce carriage, a nimble wit and active spirit, a very voluble tongue, more bold than a man,” said Governor John Winthrop of religious pioneer Anne Hutchinson, whom he expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 for her insistence on practicing religion as she chose, and on preaching herself.” Anne believed that faith by itself was not enough to achieve salvation: one must actively engage one’s faith and put it into practice.
The development of religious thought was paramount and took precedence over medial advancement. Midwifery offered a unique niche for woman in the 17th Century.

Medicine Colonial America. 2002. Stanford Hall. 16 Sept. 2009


Bryan Community Webs. 2004. Bryant University. 16 Sept. 2009


The History of Midwifery and Childbirth in America:
A Time Line. 2009. Midwifery Today. 16 Sept. 2009


Midwifery in the United States. 12/31/1999. Parkland school of nurse midwifery. 16 Sept. 2009


Anne Hutchinson. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 2007-10-23