Martha Ann Doty - Midwife, Doctor

A Comprehensive Resource

Martha Ann Baxter Doty - Midwife

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobarry/cemetery/doty/doty1.htm has the following" - Nov. 23, 1910 Jenkins Twp., Barry Co., MO - "Research Note: Infant was a stillborn male child. The places of birth and death listed differ slightly, bur was listed as stillborn. Also, cause of death listed as feeble circulation and imperfect breathing. Child was delivered by midwife Martha Doty. Son of Davis F. Coones of Clio, MO and Gillian A. Doty of Flat Creek, MO. Resource: Missouri Death Certificates"

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/births.asp?id=17926 and http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/births.asp?id=18017 - mention M J King who is Martha Jane Mallicote Baxter Austin Baxter Brimmage King - Martha Ann Doty's mother. Martha Jane was a midwife/nurse from the Civil War until the 1880's.

Cassville Democrat, Mar 18, 1922 - Mrs Martha Doty, wife of Davis Doty of Jenkins, died at the home of her son, Harrison Doty in Monet March 11 1922. She was spending a few days with her son and family when she took the flu and pneumonia which proved too much for her frail body. She was born Aoril 16, 1858 in Springfield MO and was married to Davis Doty in November 1877. To this union there were born nine children, two dying in child birth. She was converted at the age of fourteen and united with the Baptist church and lived a faithful Christian life. She leaves a husband, four sons, John of Barryville Ark, Harrison of Money, Elder Volly of Oklahoma, and Warren of Jenkins, and three daughters Mrs Martha Truhitte of Cross Hollows, Mrs Renda Cares and Miss Goldy of Jenkins. Funeral services were conducted Sunday Mar 12 at the home and again at Leann by Rev J J Brattin after which the remains were laid to rest in the Leann cemetery. A very large crowd was present to pay their respects to a good woman.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobarry/news/barryfamilies36.htm January 6, 1910, Thursday, Cassville Republican, Barry Co., MO: Jenkins News: John Doty of White River was visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Davis Doty, last week. He reported scarlet fever in his neighborhood.

http://www.theinternetfoundation.org/family/doty/MarthaDoty.htm - According to our family's oral history, my grandmother, Martha Ann DOTY, was a midwife in Barry County, near Jenkins, Missouri. The family helped her gather herbs that were taken into Aurora. From there the herbs were sent to St. Louis to be made into medicine. After the herbs were made into medicine, my cousin Jewel (Jewel Anna Truhitte Collins) says, "Our grandmother (Martha Ann DOTY) went to a druggist in Aurora to pick up the medicine." I have not yet documented who the druggist was or who did the processing in St. Louis.

Circuit Court records show the State vs. Martha DOTY for practicing medicine without a license. The charges were first filed 8 December 1911, continued 8 March 1912, and dismissed 15 July 1912. I have not yet documented why they were filed or why they were dropped. The oral tradition concerning this is that "She went away to school and came back a full-fledged M.D." My cousin Jewel remembers, "Some nurses in Aurora gave Grandmother a dinner when she returned with her license to practice medicine."

In my research I have learned that it was not necessary to attend medical school for four years as it is today. During this period of history, it was possible to study under another doctor then take an exam. I have also come across several references to "reading medicine." I have a copy of what my mother always referred .to as our grandma's doctor book," but the first few pages are missing, so I do not know the name of the book or how she obtained it. I recall my mother once told me that a doctor gave it to her.

Martha Ann BAXTER DOTY, according to oral history, learned midwifery from her mother, Martha Jane. When Martha Ann was young, she went with Martha Jane on most of her calls. When Martha Ann was ten years old (1872), she began helping Martha Jane (b 1830, 42 years). The oral tradition is that Martha Jane helped a doctor in Springfield during the Civil War. This doctor is the one who helped Martha Ann when the "other doctors said she was practicing medicine without a license." I have found no documentation as to who the doctor was that Martha Jane helped.

http://www.theinternetfoundation.org/Family/doty/SheRodeTheTrails.htm - Not in any list of Who's Who will you find the name of Dr. Martha [Ann Baxter] Doty. She was born in the last century just before the advent of the automobile, and few people outside a radius of fifty miles from her home In the southwestern Missouri hills ever heard of her. Few of those who were fortunate enough to have known her, ever called her Doctor, even after she went away to school and came back a full-fledged M.D.

Her mother before her [Martha Jane Malicote] was a midwife and herb woman. She carried her remedies in a pair of huge saddle-bags fastened behind an ancient side saddle on a stout horse and rode along the narrow trails among the hills and valleys to minister to those who called her. At an early age, Martha [Ann] began to ride with her mother to assist at a difficult child-birth or to help nurse a patient that the older woman considered too ill to be trusted to the care of relatives or neighbors. People called her Little Martha, then later they just called her Martha, and when she was old, she became Aunt Martha.

After she had ridden with her mother a few years, people said she was every bit as good, and as the older woman grew feeble with age, they came to depend more and more upon little Martha. At her mother's passing it seemed only natural that she should inherit the practice as well as the saddle-bags and carry on. By that time Martha was married and the mother of two children. In course of time she became the mother of four more. Yet, through the years, despite the cares and responsibilities of her own family she very seldom failed to respond to a call for help from those who had come to depend on her.