Essex County Midwife - Mary (Brennan) Moynahan

My 2nd great-grandmother Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (1841-1926) was a midwife in Essex county, Ontario according to the oral history passed down to me by my first cousins (twice removed) Bernard Broderick (1916-1992), Evelyn (Lennon) Janice (1916-2009) and Genevieve (Broderick) Wheeler (1908-2003).

Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (on the right) with unidentified woman

In a letter dated the 23rd of April 1985 to her cousin Joe Finn, Evelyn (Lennon) Janice said that she had heard from her other cousin Genevieve (Broderick) Wheeler (in California) who had lived with Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (and Aunt Nellie Moynahan) for four years (likely following the death of her mother in 1919). Genvieve told Evelyn that, "grandma acted as the local midwife".

Source: Letter from Evelyn (Lennon) Janice to Joseph Finn dated 1985

This blog post describes my search for proof that the stories handed down were true and that 2nd GG Mary (Brennan) Moynahan was an Essex county midwife in the 1800s

Ontario Birth Registrations

I turned my attention to birth registration records in Ontario. 

Referring to my notes from a 2017 workshop on Ontario Vital Records I was reminded that The Vitals Statistics Act of Ontario of 1869 requiring registration of births, marriages and deaths was largely ignored until the 1880s.

In fact, when Mary (Brennan) Moynahan gave birth to her own nine children between 1865 to 1884 ( a period of almost twenty years), the non-registration of her two first-born children (Ellen and John) explained certain discrepancies regarding their ages.

By the time that Mary's daughter Margaret May “Maggie” (Moynahan) was born on the 23rd of November 1871 in Maidstone, Essex, Ontario, parents Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan did not register her birth until two years later in 1873. (Delayed registration of births in Ontario was very common.)

Source: Archives of Ontario; Series: MS929; Reel: 13

"Name of Accoucheur"

Looking again at the same Ontario Birth Registration for Margaret May “Maggie” Moynahan, there is a row entitled, "Name of Accoucheur".

"Accoucheur" is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "a male midwife". It is a mid 18th century French word borrowed from French, from accoucher "to give birth, aid (a woman) who is giving birth" 

Source: Archives of Ontario; Series: MS929; Reel: 13

In the case of Maggie's accoucheur, the person who assisted Mary (Brennan) Moynahan in childbirth was Mrs. McMahon.

I searched through Ancestry's many pages of Ontario Canada Births for Essex county (1871-1892) to see if I could find "Mrs. Moynahan" listed as the "accoucheur" for any of the births. 

In the row "Name Of Accoucheur", I found many, many doctors listed, many more blank spaces and the names of some Essex county midwives such as ....

Margaret Stone, Mrs Ruston, Mrs D Moran, Mrs McDonnell, Mrs William Ellis, Mrs Brooke; Jane McDonnell, Mrs Renaud, Mrs Maloney, Mrs Mary Barrow, Mrs Susan Atkin, Mrs Barrows, Mrs Borsch, Mrs Laurent, Mrs Mary Woodmiss?, Elizabeth Farmer?, Susan Iler, Mrs Rebecca Shubert?, Julie Mallott, Sarah Matthews, Catherine Vaughan, Sarah Washington, Mrs Walker, Sarah Larabie, Eliza Simpson,

However, my first real evidence that Mary (Brennan) Moynahan was recorded as a midwife appeared in the Sandwich South Birth Records hosted on the Sandwich South Historical Society (OSSAHS) website. 

The township of Sandwich South was established in 1893 and Mary's son John Moynahan was its first clerk responsible for, among other things, completing birth registration records

Source: Sandwich South Historical Society OSSAHS Births

Note that with these Birth Registrations for Sandwich South, the row "Name of Accoucheur" has been removed and is replaced with a column for "Name of Physician In Attendance" with "Mrs. Moynahan" listed in the example below.

It is likely safe to assume that Robert Aloyisius Halford born July 8, 1897 (son of Robert Halford and Lizzie McCloskey) was most possibly the last baby delivered by Mary (Brennan) Moynahan who would have been fifty-six years old at the time.

The Halfords and the Moynahans were neighbours on South Talbot Road in Sandwich South as seen on the 1901 Census below.

1901 Census from WikiTree https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Moynahan-36

 

Midwives Like Mary (Brennan) Moynahan

Such is the legacy of so many midwives. This important and invisible work done by many experienced hands to usher into this world new life. Their contributions unknown unless you were fortunate like me to have cousins who shared this information passed down orally.

I wonder what Mary would have said, had she lived long enough to see midwives and home births eventually replaced by doctors and hospital births?

"The history of midwifery in Canada is similar to the rise and fall of midwifery in the United States and Europe.  For years women gave birth at home surrounded by female relatives and neighbours, with the birth being presided over by a female midwife. The establishment of the medical profession, rise of science in health care, and lack of professional midwife organizations all contributed to the marginalization of midwifery by the mid 1900s.  Birth became a medical intervention that took place in a depersonalized hospital room directed by a physician." (Source: A Patchwork of Care: Midwifery in Canada)

 The Good News: 1991 Ontario Midwifery Act

"Beginning in the 1960s and peaking in the 1980s there was a resurgence of interest in natural births.  Women began to question the medicalization of their birthing experiences.  During this period the home birth movement gained popularity and midwifery began to see social acceptance on a larger scale."

"In 1991 Ontario was the first province to regulate ( Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991;Midwifery Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 31;General, O. Reg. 240/94;Registration, O. Reg. 168/11;Designated Drugs, O. Reg. 884/93; andProfessional Misconduct, O. Reg. 388/09) midwifery.  (Source: A Patchwork of Care: Midwifery in Canada)

The Act meant that Ontario midwives were no longer breaking the law when they delivered babies and midwifery was officially recognized, regulated and funded as part of the health care system based on the principle that

"....pregnancy and birth are normal, healthy, family events and that pregnant women themselves should be the primary decision makers about the health care they receive.  Community midwives, together with the women they served, developed a model of care based on the principles of informed choice, continuity of care, choice of birth place, non-authoritarian relationship between woman and caregiver, time spent with women, and appropriate intervention.: (Source: History of Midwifery in Ontario)

Mary (Brennan) Moynahan Would Be So Happy

2nd great grandmother Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (1841-1926) would be delighted to know that her 3rd great grandchildren have included midwives into their own recent birthing experiences in Ontario.

As recently as August 2021, when our most recent addition to our family tree arrived, the Mom chose to include a midwife in her birthing experience adding that she had a midwife for both of her deliveries and highly recommends the experience to everyone. 

Mary (Brennan) Moynahan would delight in this latest addition to our family tree who came into this world assisted by an Ontario midwife.

Proud parents celebrating the latest addition to our family tree.