Orleana Hawks Puckett was an American

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

in the mountains of

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

and Carroll County, Virginia. Although never documented, it is said she helped deliver more than 1,000 babies, and never lost a mother or a child. In 2012, Puckett was posthumously honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...

Life

Puckett served as a midwife from 1889 until 1938, a year before she died. She started being a midwife after she herself had lost 24 children. Reasons for these deaths are unclear; some say she or her husband murdered them, but a more likely reason is that she had a disease that affected the baby, like Rh hemolytic disease. Most of her children were

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The term i ...

, and if they did live, they only survived for a few days. Even though she was unable successfully to have children, or maybe because of that, she decided to assist her neighbors in Carroll County during childbirth. She was almost 50 years old when she started her “practice”, on a completely voluntarily basis. The last delivery she assisted was that of Maxwell Hawks, on August 30, 1938.

Name

Since Puckett herself was

illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

, the spelling of her first name is uncertain. In 1913, when she applied for a pension because her husband had served in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, the notary filled in "Orleana". Some of the different names are Orlean, Orlena, Aulina or even Pauline.

Legacy

Her last home was a tiny one-room wood cabin hardly larger than an average dining room; it has been preserved by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

and may be seen along the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenand ...

at mile 189.9. The Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

continues her legacy to care for mother and child. They promote and try to strengthen the development of child, parents, and family. In 2018 the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that Puckett's name would be included on the

Virginia Women's Monument The Virginia Women's Monument is a state memorial in Richmond, Virginia commemorating the contributions of Virginia women to the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America. Located on the grounds of the Virginia Stat ...

's glass Wall of Honor.

References

External links

Puckett's biography
at the Library of Virginia {{DEFAULTSORT:Puckett, Orelena Hawks 1844 births American midwives People from Patrick County, Virginia 1938 deaths People from Carroll County, Virginia