Sarah Bigelow Ransom Hopkins 1744-1831

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A Midwife’s Tale

In 1761, Sarah Bigelow, 17, married Elias Ransom and during their marriage they moved from the Plymouth Colony area to eastern Massachusetts and settled in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, MA.

After Elias’s death, married Ichabod Hopkins there, in 1744, when she was 30, and had 16 children from the two husbands.

colonial woman on horsebackAfter Ichabod’s death in 1774, Sarah acted as a midwife for many years and assisted at the birth of more than 150 infants, usually traveling on horseback and many times having to ford the Housatonic River.

Colonial midwifery began with the Mayflower’s journey in 1620.  Midwives played an essential role in the birth process in colonial America. The community held colonial midwives in high esteem. Birth was viewed as a natural process in which a minimal amount of specialized knowledge was required. In most instances the colonial midwife provided moral support and encouragement to the pregnant woman.

Sarah’s children…and experience!

By her first husband, Elias Ransom:

  1. Elias Ransom,b l8 Aug 1762; d 3 Dec 1799; m 3 times.
  2. Lydia Ransom, b 3 Dec 1763; d ___ ; m Barnabas Sprague.
  3. Jonathan Ransom, b 13 Sep 1764.
  4. Asa Ransom, b 2 Dec 1765; d ____ ; m 1794 Keziah Keyes
  5. Sarah Ransom, b ____ 1767; d ____ ; m 30 Sep 1792 Maj. Wm. Whiting.
  6. Otis Ransom.
  7. Amana Ransom, b July 1760.
  8. Louisa Ransom, b 10 July 1772; d ____ ; m 21 Jan 1796 Andrew Hollenbeck.

By her second husband, Ichabod Hopkins, all born Great Barrington, Berkshire county, MA:

  1. John Scovill of Great Barrington (may be son of his first wife Mary Nash).
  2. Timothy Soveral Hopkins, Gen, b 10 Mar 1776; d 1853; m 28 Apr 1805 Nancy Ann Kerr; res Amherst, NY.
  3. Orlando Hopkins, b __ Mar 1778; in 1810 went to Red River, LA.
  4. Otis Ransom Hopkins, b l4 June 1780; d ___ ; m 02 Sept 1817 Lydia Spoor.
  5. Cyrus Hopkins, b 04 June 1782; d 06 Sept 1863; m (Erie co, NY) 03 Mar 1811 Charlotte Bissell.
  6. Mary Nash Hopkins, b __ Apr 1784; d ____ ; m 14 Sept 1823 Norman Kellogg.
  7. James Hopkins, b 07 Mar 1786; d ____ ; m 01 Mar 1810 Sarah Spoor.
  8. Harry Hopkins, b 09 Sept 1788; d ____ ; m Jane Culley.
Source:

Genealogy of the Bigelow Family of America: From the Marriage in 1642 of John Biglo and Mary Warren to the Year 1890

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