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.She learned to read and write from the Newry schoolmistress and was a gifted math student.On June 28, 1812, Patty married a farmer named David Sessions.The newlyweds moved in with his parents in the nearby town of Ketchum.David’s mother, Rachel, suffered from rheumatism and required constant care.While David tended to the crops, Patty tended to her mother-in-law.The daunting responsibility inadvertently led the teenager to pursue a career as a midwife.Before Rachel had become disabled, she was the trained attendant who neighbors and friends sought help from with obstetrical cases.One afternoon she received a frantic summons to the bedside of an expectant mother who was very ill.Physically unable to get to the mother-to-be quickly, Rachel decided to send Patty to lend a hand.She reassured her daughter-in-law that she had the compassion and common sense necessary to be of help, and Patty agreed to go.When she arrived on the scene, the expectant mother was in labor and very sick.Patty thought the woman was dying.What she lacked in practical knowledge, she made up for in nerve and courage.Patty’s presence and calming attitude comforted the distressed woman.She took charge of the situation, ordering the expectant mother to breath easily through the contractions.By the time the doctor arrived, the baby had been born, and mother and child were resting comfortably.The pair were thoroughly examined and given clean bills of health.Patty was commended by the physician for a job well done and encouraged to enter the business.He told her the need for her skills was in great demand and promised that she would prosper in the profession.Patty was intrigued with the prospect, but it wasn’t until she experienced the thrill of helping to deliver another child that she decided to become a midwife.Her education in the field would be well rounded.She studied obstetrics under Doctor Timothy Carter, a physician in Bethel, Maine; she learned about natural herb remedies from Native Americans; and she interned with elderly midwives in the area.Patty Bartlett Sessions devoted herself to learning all she could about natural labor and prenatal care.She earned a reputation as one of the best practitioners of her kind in the territory.When Patty wasn’t helping to deliver babies, she and her husband were working the land on their 200-acre homestead.With dedication and hard work, they grew their farm to include a large house, two large barns, several sheds, a sawmill, and a gristmill.Over the course of their twenty-five-year marriage, the couple had eight children.Only three of their children lived to adulthood.Typhus fever swept through the area, claiming the lives of two of the Sessions children and countless other residents in the small farming community.Patty dealt with the loss as best she could while continuing to serve the town as midwife.David struggled to come to terms with the death of his offspring and sunk into a deep depression.The pair’s spirits never fully recovered.In 1833, a group of Mormon missionaries made their camp near the Sessions home and began ministering to them.Their message changed Patty and David’s life and brought them out of the deep pit of despair.Close to a year later, the husband and wife adopted the Mormon religion and were baptized into the faith.At the urging of the church leaders, David moved his family from Maine to Kirkland, Ohio.Patty’s services continued to be greatly required.In addition to performing her daily household duties, she attended to numerous obstetrical cases.Her journal contains several entries describing the events and their outcomes, such as this account from May of 1836:In 1842, the Mormon Church leaders again called upon the Sessions family to relocate.This time they were to go to Nauvoo, Illinois.While in Nauvoo, Patty and David met the town founder, Joseph Smith.Smith was also the president and prophet of the Church of Latter Day Saints.He was taken with Patty’s medical ability and the role she played as caregiver for other migrating Mormons.In keeping with the religion’s polygamist practice, Patty accepted a proposal of marriage from Joseph Smith.On March 9, 1842, the two exchanged vows.Smith and the Mormon Church put Patty’s skills to work, and she began teaching young wives about motherhood and the importance of a proper diet for themselves and their children.From 1842 to 1847, the accomplished midwife assisted in bringing hundreds of babies into the Mormon family.Patty continued to provide expert services to mothers after the church made a mass exodus from the Midwest to Utah.Patty Bartlett Sessions Smith was forty-nine when she arrived in the Great Salt Lake Basin.Her medical duties expanded well beyond her initial training and duties as a midwife.Using a medical guide called The Family Physician, she now provided a wide variety of healthcare treatments to members of the congregation.Those whose health she had helped restore lovingly referred to her as “Doctor Patty.”The leaders of the Mormon Church wholeheartedly approved of Patty’s title and work, and would later encourage other females to enter the profession.In January 1868, Brigham Young announced, “The time has come for women to come forth as doctors in these valleys.” Patty adhered to the church’s practice of healing the body using natural herbs and foliage [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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