Daily AncestorMidwife
A midwife helped women through childbirth, usually a woman who was not a physician and who learned the work by experience or training.
Midwives attended births in homes and often visited mothers afterward. In many communities a respected older woman served as the midwife for years, and her name may appear in diaries, church records or later birth registrations.
Census instructions for 1900 list nurse or midwife among sample occupations. Midwife is also the meaning of the Latin obstetrix in church registers.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1880 census
Hannah Glidden, 58, Midwife, Maine
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Midwife." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/midwife. Last checked 2026-10-01.