Mary Green (1812-1907) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 36) Theme: "Labor"

This week the focus is on my 3X great grandmother Mary Green's profession as a midwife where she would have had more than a passing familiarity with women in labor!

Mary (Green) Hoover 

Mary was born in Pennsylvania 4 September 1812 to Ezekiel Green and his wife (who may have been named Esther Ann but, with no evidence to back that up, she for now remains nameless). Mary was the 6th of the 9 children this unnamed woman bore Ezekiel (assuming he had just the one wife) so she was also no stranger to labor!

1830 US Census for Plumcreek, Armstrong County, PA

Mary grew up in Plum Creek, PA. In the 1830 U.S. Census, a portion of which is shown above, she is no doubt one of the 3 females between the ages of 15 and 20 in the Ezekiel Green household, Conveniently, one neighboring family was that of Christian Hoover (Sr.) where there was one young man in his 20's -- quite probably Christian Hoover (Jr.) who may have already been courting Mary. Christian and Mary were married on 15 August 1833.

Their first-born child was my 2X great grandmother, the inimitable Barbara Hoover (the operator of many restaurants, hotels and boarding houses written about in an earlier story). Christian and Mary would also have a total of 9 children born between 1834 and 1849. Shortly after completing their family, they were on the move, first to Illinois, then to Kansas Territory for a couple of years, then back to Illinois and then to What Cheer, Iowa before finally moving back again to Kansas where they settled at Burlingame in Osage County.  This is where we find Christian (70) and Mary (68) with two grandsons residing with them in the 1880 U.S. Census. The household next in the form is that of their daughter Hannah and her husband and family. 

Christian and Mary Hoover in the 1880 U.S. Census

Note that Christian's occupation is given as "Physician" while Mary's is "Keeping House". No census ever affords her any other occupational description, yet we know that she was credited with being the midwife and registering 22 births (including a couple of her own grandchildren - Clark and Elda Kelleher) and also with registering 3 deaths (not sure if the deaths were related to childbirth, but that is certainly a possibility at that time.)

Fortunately for Mary receiving the recognition that she is due, the State of Kansas required annual registration of all physicians and midwives starting in the 1880s. My favourite is the first registration for which both Christian and Mary are found for Osage County in 1887 (although they had been registered since 12 September 1885). Christian (age 75) says he has had 47 years in practice, 7 of which were in Kansas. For his school of practice, he says, "man and beast"! His field seemed to be what was termed "eclectic medicine" at the time. (One of his descendants, Arlene Jennings, had a scrap of paper with the formula for "Grandpa Hoover's Liniment.")

Neither Christian nor Mary filled in the blanks for where or when their diplomas were conferred, leading one to the conclusion that they had not gone to any sort of medical school to train but had simply done what training they could and then hung out their shingles, something that it was still possible to do at that time.

Mary's registration indicates that in 1887 she had been practicing for 18 years, 7 of them in Kansas.  She was 73 at the time and her school of practice was given as "accoucheur", another name for a midwife.

Both Christian and Mary appear in the Annual Reports for the Kansas State Board of Health in 1892, 1893 and 1894. By then, Mary is listed under the category of "midwives". Christian seems to have retired by 1895 and no longer appears in the registrations, but Mary continued to remain active until 1898. We know that this aging couple were not in great shape, physically or financially, by this time. 

Christian had signed up for the Union Army during the American Civil War, notwithstanding being in his 50s at the time. He suffered terribly from rheumatism and piles after this; eventually the pain got to him and he shot himself on 15 December 1897. Mary by then was almost blind and was left alone and destitute. (One might wonder if she suffered from the  macular degeneration that has caused loss of sight in so many of her descendants as they age.) At first, her application for a Civil War Widow's Pension was denied on the basis of her husband's suicide, but a few months later, the Board relented and gave her the usual $8 per month pension.

Mary eventually moved in with her only surviving child, son Samuel Hoover in Warrensburg, Missouri, which is where she died on 10 October 1907, her labors finally done. 

Obituary for Mary (Green) Hoover from the Osage County Chronicle
October 17, 1907
Burlingame, Kansas 
(Once again, no mention of her midwifery career)

Mary was buried with her husband Christian but apparently not given her own stone. Nevertheless, we remember and salute you for your numerous contributions to this world, Mary.

Burial stone for Christian Hoover in Burlingame Cemetery
Photo Courtesy Jean Pinick of Find a Grave

Some Resources:

• Annual Reports of the State Board of Health for the State of Kansas; Topeka, KS: Press of the Hamilton Printing Company for the years 1887-1898 (containing the State Register of Physicians and Midwives), digitized copies of which can be read on the following website: https://cdm16884.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16884coll4/id/743
• Jennings, Arlene V., "Mary (Green) Hoover, Physician, of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Armstrong County, Pennsylvania", Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol 45 (2007), pp.6-20