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Catharina Cramer

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Wash drawing of Catherine Cramer by J Folkema in 1714. The original is in the Iconographical Office, The Hague, Netherlands.

Catharina (Vrouw) Schrader Cramer (1656- 1746) was an accomplished Dutch midwife, known for her extensive journal of birthing accounts in the Early Modern Era.

Early life

Born in Bentheim, Germany, Catharina Schrader moved to Leiden, The Netherlands when she was about 14 years old. She had a big family; her father, Friedrich Schrader, her mother, Gertrud Nibberich, and records estimate about four siblings. [1]

Marriages

Married to Ernst Wilhelm Cramer from 1683-1691. While they traveled often, they managed to build a family of six children. It wasn’t long after their last child was born that Ernst Wilhelm Cramer died, leaving Catharina a widow, with a handful of children to raise. [2]

In 1713, Catharina remarried to Thomas Higt. Their marriage was quite ordinary, and lasted until Thomas Higt died in 1720, once again, rendering Catharina a widow. [3]

Widows in the early modern period

Though Catharina struggled financially during her widowhood; women in this time period were actually more empowered when widowed. Because the woman is under her husband’s power, when he dies, that power is passed to his wife. A widow inherits the family money and becomes the head of the household. Depending on what the husband’s occupation was, it gets passed to his wife as well. If a man was a business-owner, his widow now rules that business.

Becoming a widow also empowers a woman because according to church and state, she has officially done her duty as a woman- marrying and possibly birthing children. So when a woman’s husband dies, she has done all that she could have as a woman, in their eyes.

Catharina chose to take up midwifery when her first husband died. She had more freedom to travel and practice now that she was a widow. She slowed down her practice after her second marriage, but proceeded to pick back up when she became a widow once again, after her second husband died.

Midwifery

In the Early Modern Era, midwifery was solely a woman’s job. Midwifery is a type of childbirth where an experienced and trained woman comes to another’s home, to help deliver her baby. A mother would choose this route of childbirth because she would feel completely comfortable and safe in the environment of her own home, and this does not involve any medication. Middle-class women in this time period typically worked as textile workers to save money for their marriage dowry, but to become a midwife, was a very respected and prestige position for a woman. Midwives were paid good salaries, and received tips from wealthy families whom they serviced. Young girls first had to apprentice for a few years with an experienced midwife and learn the ways, and only then could they become independent midwives. Though not as common now, midwives are still birthing children to this day.

Catharina Schrader as a midwife

It was after the death of her first husband, Ernst Wilhelm Cramer, that Catharina Schrader started to practice midwifery. With six children, she was in need of a way to financially support her family.[4] After getting remarried to Thomas Higt however, Catharina slowed down her practice. Articles suggest that this could be because her family was more financially stable after her marriage, but she still continued to do it here and there though. After the death of her second husband, she picked back up, even though at this point, she was a bit older. [5]

Catharina was a very well experienced midwife. She had about 3000 cases of childbirth entries in her journals.[6] She traveled around to help assist difficult deliveries; Dokkum was a popular place where she visited often. Catharina had close friends in that area, who were part of the ministry; she would go there to assist their personal deliveries, like the wife of a preacher, and other townspeople with difficult deliveries. [7]

Published work

The Memory book van de Vrouwens is Catharina Schrader’s published journal. It contains entries from her experiences of various childbirths. Throughout her career she didn’t quite keep this book as a medical journal, but more for records. Along with the details of the birth itself, it included financial information, the mother’s information, and prayers. [8]

Catharina would write an entry on the same day she helped a mother birth a child. Her journal entries were very detailed including financial administrations and patient registrations. Some think the reason her journals were so detailed, is so that her apprentices and followers later on the years, would have her experience and knowledge as reference. [9]

Catharine also kept a separate diary for gynecological and surgical work. This was kept in as much detail as her birth cases. [10]

Every new year started with a prayer in Catharina’s journals. An entry from her journal from the beginning of a year goes as followed:

Here begins again in the name of The Lord the year 1727
Oh Lord, it is again that I was sent for this purpose by the way of Your Godly providence to help my fellow men. So give me then again with this new year new force and strength in my body in my great old age….[11]

It can be observed that religion played an important role in her profession. She believed that God gifted her with this talent of midwifery, and she must honor it by helping others with it.

Notes

  1. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 6
  2. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 6
  3. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 7
  4. ^ Eccles, 479
  5. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 7
  6. ^ Eccles, 479
  7. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader,13
  8. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 7
  9. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 8
  10. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 8
  11. ^ Marland, Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader, 16

References

  1. Eccles, Audrey. “Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693–1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader.” Medical History 32.4 (1988).
  2. J, Beal. "Catharina Schrader: A Midwife of 18th-Century Friesland." Midwifery Today with International Midwife: 45-7. MEDLINE. Web.
  3. Marland, Hilary. Nursing Times 83. Web. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1139935/pdf/medhist00061-0130a.pdf>.
  4. Marland, Hilary, ed. The Art of Midwifery: Early Modern Midwives in Europe. Routledge, 2005. 256. Print.
  5. Schama, Simon. The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age. Berkeley: U of California :, 1988. Print.
  6. Schrader, C. G., and Hilary Marland. Mother and Child Were Saved: The Memoirs (1693-1740) of the Frisian Midwife Catharina Schrader. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987. Print.
  1. http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/beal_schrader.asp
  2. https://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/analyzing/accounts/schraderintro.html
  3. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Dutch-Colonies/2000-04/0955309258
  4. http://www.catharinaschraderstichting.com/indexcssenglish1.htm
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