*Please note- This site search does not include the Vic. & Tas. BMD's, Lots o' Links & Worth a Look Books
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MARIA ANN SHERWOOD
MIDWIFERY, (GRANNY SMITH) ORCHARDIST
1799-1870
Maria Ann Sherwood was baptized on 5 January 1800 in the rural parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Peasmarsh, Sussex, England. Daughter of John Sherwood, farm labourer, and his wife Hannah, née Wright. Maria followed her parents into farm service. On 8 Aug. 1819 in the parish church, Ebony, Kent, she married Thomas Smith (1799-1876), a farm labourer from Beckley. Both Bride and Groom signed with a mark.
The Smiths lived in Beckley for the following nineteen years, during which time they had eight children, three of these unfortunately died in infancy. Along with several other farming families from the Peasmarsh, Beckley area, they migrated to New South Wales under the Government bounty scheme. Surrounding villages of eastern Sussex & western Kent were also included in this migration scheme to N.S.W. They reached Sydney in the Lady Nugent on 27 November 1838.
Thomas found employment with a settler in the well established fruit-growing district of Kissing Point (Ryde); he and Maria remained in the district for the rest of their lives. Their youngest and only Australian-born child William was baptized at St Anne's Church of England, Ryde, in May 1842. In the mid 1850's, Thomas bought two blocks of land for an orchard, totalling about 24 acres (9.7 ha) on the edge of the Field of Mars common (Eastwood).
Like many others in the Ryde, Eastwood area, the Smiths were orchardists, but Maria Smith was best known for being the local midwife. The title Granny or Granny woman was a name commonly given to women who were midwives, so Maria was known as Granny Smith.
The Smiths grew fruit for the Sydney markets & Granny Smith also made fruit pies and developed quite a reputation. When her husband fell ill, Granny Smith had to take the fruit to market herself. Folklore tells us that one day a wholesaler at the Sydney markets gave Granny Smith a box of old crab-apples to use in her pies. She apparently threw the crabapple peels and seeds out of the kitchen window. Some months later
she found a small apple seedling growing in the compost.
This new apple was green instead of red & was good for not only cooking but also excellent for eating. The apples also kept well when properly stored. Granny Smith is reported to have said, “Well, it's just like God to make something useful out of what we think is rubbish”.
An article by the Dundas orchardist & local historian Herbert Rumsey, appeared in Field of Mars common (Eastwood), where Rumsey had interviewed two fruit growers who had known Maria. One fruit grower remembered that in 1868 he and his father had been invited by her to examine a seedling apple growing by a creek on her property and that she had explained that the seedling had developed from the remains of some French crab-apples grown in Tasmania. According to this recollection, Mrs Smith herself then began to work a few of these seedling trees and soon afterwards Edward Gallard, a local orchardist, planted out a large number of them, from which he marketed a crop annually until his death in 1914.
Maria Smith died on 9 March 1870 at Ryde and was buried in St Anne's churchyard. Her husband, three sons and two daughters survived her. The apple was not a commercial variety in her lifetime but its cultivation was sustained by local orchardists, including Gallard, who purchased part of the Smith farm after Thomas's death in 1876. By 1891-92 'Granny Smith's seedlings' had begun to win prizes in the cooking-apple class and several local growers were exhibiting the apples. In 1895 Granny Smith's seedlings were planted on a large scale at the Government Experimental Station at Bathurst. That year the variety was included in the Department of Agriculture's list of fruits suitable for export and began its long and successful commercial life.
Granny Smith never lived to see her apple become famous.
Reference
Australian Dictionary of Biography
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-maria-ann-13199
Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond
http://www.pregnancy.com.au/midwifery/midwifery
The Smiths lived in Beckley for the following nineteen years, during which time they had eight children, three of these unfortunately died in infancy. Along with several other farming families from the Peasmarsh, Beckley area, they migrated to New South Wales under the Government bounty scheme. Surrounding villages of eastern Sussex & western Kent were also included in this migration scheme to N.S.W. They reached Sydney in the Lady Nugent on 27 November 1838.
Thomas found employment with a settler in the well established fruit-growing district of Kissing Point (Ryde); he and Maria remained in the district for the rest of their lives. Their youngest and only Australian-born child William was baptized at St Anne's Church of England, Ryde, in May 1842. In the mid 1850's, Thomas bought two blocks of land for an orchard, totalling about 24 acres (9.7 ha) on the edge of the Field of Mars common (Eastwood).
Like many others in the Ryde, Eastwood area, the Smiths were orchardists, but Maria Smith was best known for being the local midwife. The title Granny or Granny woman was a name commonly given to women who were midwives, so Maria was known as Granny Smith.
The Smiths grew fruit for the Sydney markets & Granny Smith also made fruit pies and developed quite a reputation. When her husband fell ill, Granny Smith had to take the fruit to market herself. Folklore tells us that one day a wholesaler at the Sydney markets gave Granny Smith a box of old crab-apples to use in her pies. She apparently threw the crabapple peels and seeds out of the kitchen window. Some months later
she found a small apple seedling growing in the compost.
This new apple was green instead of red & was good for not only cooking but also excellent for eating. The apples also kept well when properly stored. Granny Smith is reported to have said, “Well, it's just like God to make something useful out of what we think is rubbish”.
An article by the Dundas orchardist & local historian Herbert Rumsey, appeared in Field of Mars common (Eastwood), where Rumsey had interviewed two fruit growers who had known Maria. One fruit grower remembered that in 1868 he and his father had been invited by her to examine a seedling apple growing by a creek on her property and that she had explained that the seedling had developed from the remains of some French crab-apples grown in Tasmania. According to this recollection, Mrs Smith herself then began to work a few of these seedling trees and soon afterwards Edward Gallard, a local orchardist, planted out a large number of them, from which he marketed a crop annually until his death in 1914.
Maria Smith died on 9 March 1870 at Ryde and was buried in St Anne's churchyard. Her husband, three sons and two daughters survived her. The apple was not a commercial variety in her lifetime but its cultivation was sustained by local orchardists, including Gallard, who purchased part of the Smith farm after Thomas's death in 1876. By 1891-92 'Granny Smith's seedlings' had begun to win prizes in the cooking-apple class and several local growers were exhibiting the apples. In 1895 Granny Smith's seedlings were planted on a large scale at the Government Experimental Station at Bathurst. That year the variety was included in the Department of Agriculture's list of fruits suitable for export and began its long and successful commercial life.
Granny Smith never lived to see her apple become famous.
Reference
Australian Dictionary of Biography
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-maria-ann-13199
Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond
http://www.pregnancy.com.au/midwifery/midwifery
Granny Smith Festival
Granny Smith Festival Ryde
http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/Events/Granny-Smith-F |
A Float in the Granny Smith Festival, Ryde, NSW
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WHAT NEXT?-
Granny Smith Game! Granny Smith loves her apples, but a thief is stealing from her precious garden! Help Mrs. Smith as she swiftly skates through farms and goldmines, crashing through everything from barns to train carts in the pursuit of fruit. Get the apples before the thief does! http://www.grannysmith |
Grave of Maria (Granny) Smith
St. Anne's Churchyard, Ryde, N.S.W. http://pickeringbrookheritagegroup.com/ |
Herbert John Rumsey (1866–1956)
Seedsman, horticulturist and genealogist, was born on 4 February 1866 at Leamington, Warwickshire, England. Honorary secretary of the New South Wales Chamber of Agriculture (1904-05) and president of the Australasian Association of Nurserymen and Seedsmen (1912) and of the Australian Nutgrowers' Association (1932-33). He wrote books on growing fruit and vegetables including Australian Nuts and Nutgrowing in Australia (1927), and contributed several articles to the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales. Rumsey Wrote an Article on Maria Sherwood (Granny Smith), after interviewing two fruit growers who had personally known her.
Seedsman, horticulturist and genealogist, was born on 4 February 1866 at Leamington, Warwickshire, England. Honorary secretary of the New South Wales Chamber of Agriculture (1904-05) and president of the Australasian Association of Nurserymen and Seedsmen (1912) and of the Australian Nutgrowers' Association (1932-33). He wrote books on growing fruit and vegetables including Australian Nuts and Nutgrowing in Australia (1927), and contributed several articles to the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales. Rumsey Wrote an Article on Maria Sherwood (Granny Smith), after interviewing two fruit growers who had personally known her.
Peasmarsh East Sussex
The Black Death Documentary
1:03:21 The Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival
is held in the church in June of each year. Beckley History Society http://www.beckley.freeservers.com/beckley_histor |
The Black Death of St Peter & St Paul Church
Peasmarsh East Sussex The village church is situated about 1.6 km from the village. The village centre was moved after the Black Death plague. Black Death Moves Village http://sussex.villagenet.co.uk/peasmarsh.php The Plague Doctor
9:25 Sir Paul McCartney MBE, musician and
former member of The Beatles, lives in the village Australian Festival of Chamber Music
6:12 Peasmarsh, Sussex, History
http://peasmarsh.org/Peasmarsh_history.htm Peasmarsh, Sussex https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Peasmarsh |
SUSSEX
A handbook for travellers in Kent and Sussex 1858
https://archive.org/details/ahandbookfortra17firgoog Sussex Hawkers 1891 http://romany-1.wikifoundry.com/page/Sussex Sussex, Parish Registers https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1465706 Dustydocs- Sussex http://dustydocs.com.au/county/1/england/37/sussex The parish registers of Bolney, Sussex. 1541-1812. https://archive.org/stream/parishregisterso15bolnuof Sussex Fines, 1249-1307 https://archive.org/stream/sussexrecordsoc00socigo |
One Hundred Years of the Sussex Register and County of Sussex, 1813-1913 (limited view)
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lRCV6 Online Parish Clerks- Sussex http://www.sussex-opc.org/ Sussex Record Society- Horsham Parish Register, 1541-1635 https://archive.org/stream/publications21suss#page Calendar of Sussex Marriage Licences https://archive.org/details/calendarofsussex00chicu Sussex Fines, 1308-1509 https://archive.org/stream/publications23suss#page |
Ebony Kent
Ebony Kent
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/22485
Parish church, Ebony, Kent
http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Ebony.html
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/22485
Parish church, Ebony, Kent
http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Ebony.html
Parish church, Ebony, Kent
http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Ebony.html A handbook for travellers in Kent and Sussex 1858 https://archive.org/details/ahandbookfortra17firgoog The register booke of christeninges, marriages and burialls in Saint Dunstan's, Canterbury, 1559-1800 https://archive.org/stream/registerbookech00cowp |
The register of all the marriages, christenings and burials in the church of S. Margaret, Lee : in the county of Kent from 1579-1754
https://archive.org/stream/registerofallmar00chur# The register of all the christenings, marriages, and burials in the parish of St. Mary, Chislet, in the county of Kent, from the year 1583 to 1707 http://www.archive.org/stream/registerallchri00hov |
Ryde, New South Wales
Marsfield
Marsfield is one of 16 suburbs that form the City of Ryde. http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/marsfield How Marsfield got its name http://www.marsfieldnews.com.au/how-marsfield KISSING POINT, RYDE, N.S.W.
Land grants from 1792. As Ships often touched the river bottom, the water front became known as 'Kissing point' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissing_Point,_New SQUIRE'S BREWERY, KISSING POINT
Kissing Point is a section on the Parramatta River about 2 km south of Ryde but originally, the name was applied to an area covering the modern suburbs of Ryde, Putney and Gladesville. James Squire, an emancipist, brewed the colony’s first beer and became a wealthy business man.
Cabinet of Discoveries- Old Maps & prints http://www.oldmapsandprints.com.au/bs-gallery/ |
Field of Mars common (Eastwood)
Originally called "The Field of Mars" but changed to "Marsfield" in 1892. July 25th. - 1868 - A strange craft flew over Sydney, New South Wales. It landed and a local surveyor, Robert McNamara, was invited to board this incredible flying machine by its strange pilot. (Marsfield -Sydney-N.S.W). Named after the incident that occurred near the present day Macquarie University site, is one of the legends. http://www.phils.com.au/marsfield.htm Field of Mars Cemetery Deceased search
http://fieldofmarscemetery.com.au/Deceased-Searc The property of the late Mr James Squires,
Kissing Point, New South Wales. |
Midwifery
A Short History of Midwifery
http://midwifeinsight.com/articles/ a-short DELIVERY CHAIR
FORCEPS
In the 17th century, forceps were a new tool in obstetrics that were, interestingly enough, kept a secret for over 100 years by the Chamberlens who invented them. http://wondersandmarvels.blogspot.com.au Licensing of midwives was usually the responsibility of the Church, which involved the women to take an oath.
A 16th century English oath- “You shall not in any wise use or exercise any manner of witchraft, charm or sorcery, invocation or other prayers that may stand with God’s laws and the King’s…You shall not give any counsel or minister any herb, medicine, or potion, or any other thing, to any woman being with child whereby she should destroy or cast out that goeth withal before her time. “Also, I will not use any kind of sorcery or incantation in the time of the travail of any woman. And that I will not destroy the child born of any woman, nor cut, nor pull off the head thereof, or otherwise dismember or hurt the same, or suffer it to be so hurt or dismembered by any manner of ways or means.” — Excerpt from a midwife’s oath (1567) Midwives would use various ointments and herbs to help with the birthing process & so, some were considered to be witches & were burned at the stake
or hanged Jasper is known metaphysically as a stone of gentleness, comfort, and relaxation.
The Witch trials of Northern Europe as well as the Salem Witch Trials all have some relationship to healthcare practices The history of the feeding bottle
http://www.alimentarium.org/en/magazine/ |
TRAINING
Women became midwives through an informal apprenticeship by attending labours, particularly in the company of another midwife. Drunken midwives and snooty surgeons: a short history of giving birth http://theconversation.com/drunken-midwives-and-snooty GRANNY WOMAN
A Granny Woman is a woman who is trained to assist in childbirth- Midwife. Maria Smith became known as 'Granny Smith' because of her duties as a Midwife. https://www.wordnik.com/words/midwife FINGERSMITH
A Fingersmith, was slang for a Midwife, or pickpocket. http://translation.babylon.com/english/Fingersmith/ The History of Midwifery and Childbirth in America:
A Time Line http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/timeline.asp 1700s: Angelique du Coudray’s fabric womb
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/call_the_midwife_fab MIDWIVES / WITCHES?
You can see why Midwives were associated with Witchcraft, by some of their healing methods below. Also, the notion by people during the middle ages, that giving birth had something magical attached to it & the Midwives had this under their control. Ergot was used for the pain of labor
Belladonna was used to inhibit uterine contractions Digitalis (Foxglove) properties on the heart and circulation Ragwort & Columbine seeds to accelerate the birth Jasper Stone to ward off misfortune Cobwebs for clotting blood Murder Bottles
The bottles were made of glass or earthenware. Attached to the bottle was a length of rubber tubing and a nipple. The bottles, with appealing names such as “Mummies Darling” or “The Empire” also proved to be perfect incubators for deadly bacteria. It didn’t help that they were also very difficult to clean. https://nourishingdeath.wordpress.com/201 |
Food (or drink) for thought!
Victorian Glass Baby Bottle / Plastic Sipper with Straw-
Modern Plastic Baby Bottle/Sipper with Straw
Very similar, in difficulty of cleaning
Very similar, in difficulty of cleaning