WHEREAS, Martha Ballard, born in 1735, was a midwife and key figure in the history of central Maine during the early years of the American republic and lived for many years in what is now the City of Augusta; and

WHEREAS, in her capacity as a midwife, Ballard delivered 816 babies and simultaneously worked as a nurse, physician, mortician, pharmacist and healed patients who include many ancestors of people living in Maine and beyond today; and

WHEREAS, Ballard left a detailed diary stretching 27 years that elevates our understanding of the day-to-day life in that founding period of our history; and

WHEREAS, in 1991, author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich published “A Midwife's Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary,” which gave us a more complete understanding of Ballard’s life, and it was later adapted into the film “A Midwife’s Tale” in 1998 bringing Ballard’s life further into prominence; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine finds a cultural benefit in sharing information that will increase public awareness of Ballard’s life, her work and Maine’s history;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the month of August 2024 as

Martha Ballard Month

Throughout the State of Maine, and I urge Maine citizens to learn about Martha and her remarkable life.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this seventeenth day of July Two Thousand Twenty-Four