Childbirth in early America was a difficult and sometimes dangerous experience for women. Records indicated that between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of all births ended in the mother’s death as a result of exhaustion, dehydration, infection, hemorrhage, or convulsions. Since the typical mother gave birth to between five and eight children, her lifetime chances of dying in childbirth ran as high as 1 in 8. Death was sufficiently common that many women regarded pregnancy with dread. And...

Ellen A. Pond (1845-1919) Ellen Augusta Pond was born on May 7, 1845 in South Dedham. She was the daughter and only child of John C. Pond (1814-1906) and Mary E. Lewis Pond (1818-1896). According to a friend’s diary, in February of 1880, Ellen was hospitalized and her foot amputated; she returned home on May 6, 1880. The 1880 Census also makes note of her disability. She did not work outside the home. After the deaths of her parents, Ellen boarded in various homes, chiefly along Walpole...

Royal Ellis (1771-1840) Betsey Morse Ellis (1782-1878) Isaac Newton Ellis (1810-1893) David M. Ellis (1821-1898) Royal Ellis was born on March 15, 1771. His parents were William Ellis and Olive Fairbanks Ellis. On April 29, 1807 Royal Ellis married Betsey Morse, who was born in 1782 in Walpole. She was the daughter of David and Sybil Morse. Royal and Betsey Ellis had three children: Isaac Newton Ellis, born November 26, 1810; Roxa Ellis, born on August 14, 1813; and David M. Ellis, born...