Here is a GREAT article. An excerpt that most surprised me…and didn’t surprise me at the same time:
“For a time, the role of midwife was an actual calling extended to Latter-day Saint women….The respect afforded Latter-day Saint midwives is suggested by the fact that they were said to be “officiating at births.”5 They were also considered general healers, going from home to home to care for the sick and attend to the dying.6 Moreover they engaged in the sanctioned practices of anointing, blessing, and administering blessings of strength and healing. In this way, midwives were viewed as the female equivalent of patriarch—matriarchs whose position was cemented by being called and ordained. An example is Zina Young. Emmeline Wells said of her, “In the sickroom she was a ministering angel, having always something to suggest that would be soothing and restful; she was a natural nurse, and she invariably inspired confidence. Her strongest capabilities lay in nursing the sick. . . . No other woman knew better what to do when death came into a home. . . . Numberless instances might be cited of her administrations among the sick, when she seemed to be inspired by some higher power than her own.”7
For the full article and references, click here! (or copy/paste into your browser – my hyperlink function is malfunctioning!)
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/rediscovering-the-legacy-of-mormon-midwives/
~The Sego Lily Midwife