Thursday, January 16, 2025
Midwifery has a long history in the State of Texas. As late as 1900, more than half of all births in Texas were attended by midwives.
The midwife practice has been traditionally a combination of letting nature take its course and assisting the mother with emotional support and a variety of home remedies as well as herbal remedies.
Most midwives in early day Texas were traditional-lay midwives and practiced in homes long before hospitals were in existence.
A pioneer midwife of great renown and unwavering spirit in Coryell County was known as Sarah Hannah Bates. She came to Coryell County with her husband, William Alexander Bates, and settled near Shoal Creek on a land patent containing 160 acres. A native of Missouri, she was 36 years old when she first set foot in Coryell County in 1878.
In the Coryell County Families book, published in 1986, Sarah’s granddaughter, Mary Etta Franklin, remembered, “My grandmother was not only a wife and mother, but also a ‘woman doctor.’ Legally licensed or not, it is recorded that she delivered 1,074 babies between 1874 and 1904 when she died. It never got too cold or too dark for her to go when called.”
It is certain that Sarah Bates faced many challenges in the late 19th century that stretched far beyond the birthing room. There were struggles with isolation; the weather could turn fierce, and the dirt roads that crisscrossed Coryell County often became impassable after rains. There were nights when she must have travelled through thick fields, lantern in hand, to reach a mother in need.
Word of Sarah’s remarkable skills as a midwife quickly spread throughout Coryell County. She became much more than just a deliverer of babies; she was a confidante, a healer, and a pillar of strength for the women of the community. Many came to her not only for her midwifery, but also for her knowledge of herbal remedies, allowing her to care for ailments far beyond childbirth.
Since her first arrival in the county, years rolled by as she continued her work. The next generation of women began to look upon midwives such as Sarah Bates and they realized her deep-rooted passion to help others.
Sarah Bates died on May 5, 1904, in Coryell County at the age of 61. Whether it was through storms or celebrations, the legacy of love, compassion, and the midwifery of Sarah Bates would endure for the generations that followed.
