Profiles of Prominent Charlton County Citizens

ROSA ETTA ANDERSON BAILEY (1883-1971)
Licensed Midwife


By
Lois Barefoot Mays

On May 26, 1883, a little girl named Rosa Etta was born just north of Winokur, Georgia into the family of Jessie and Ansel Anderson. When Rosa Etta was still a child, both her parents died and she spent the rest of her childhood with her grandparents, Daniel and Nancy Anderson and her uncle Peter Anderson.

As she grew older she developed a strong love for babies and an extraordinary interest in birthing and childcare. She pursued her interests by following the midwives to the homes of expectant mothers, participating in the birthings and gaining the kind of experience that was better than studying a medical school textbook. At the side of the older midwives she learned the time-honored procedures that have brought countless generations of children into life.

When she was twenty she married Henry Bailey and two years later she herself gave birth to the first of her thirteen children. Three of her babies died (Daniel, Elean and “Baby Boy”) and she raised the other ten of them to adulthood. They were Ellen, Jessie, Aaron, Virdell, Cedar, Sylvester, Luevessie, Eddie, Henry and Julia. She also raised one of her granddaughters, Rose Mary Hill.

Her natural interest in the well-being of babies and her desire to be of service to others only grew stronger with the loss of three of her own babies. She understood very well the heartbreak of a mother who has anticipated the birth of a child for nine months, only to see her dream die.

Raising ten children was a full-time job for Mrs. Bailey. She and her family lived on a farm near Winokur. Her husband Henry was gone all day out into the woods to cut cross ties for the railroad. The children spent most of their time working in the gardens and fields helping grow the family’s food. She enjoyed hunting and fishing. One of her daughters, Luevessie Vaughn, recalls “Mama loved to go hunting. When we lived on the farm she would throw that gun on her shoulder and go down to the creek and come back loaded with squirrels! Sometimes she would walk to the creek and set her lines out and go back a while later. When she came home she brought plenty of fish for a meal for the family.” She was an excellent housekeeper for her family and often she was asked by other families to come and work in their homes.

In 1926 when she was 43 years old, Mrs. Bailey began to fulfill her dream to become a midwife. Her children had reached the age when they could begin to care for themselves, and so for the next 34 years she pursued her calling as a midwife and she became a vitally important member of her community. By that time most of the older midwives had died and there were few women aside from Mrs. Bailey who could take their place. More and more the childbearing women looked to her and she accepted this responsibility.

In 1942, she received medical training to become a certified midwife, working under the direction of Dr. Campbell and Dr. Moody in Nahunta, Ga. Later, in Folkston, she worked with Dr. W.R. McCoy and Dr. J.M. Jackson. She was awarded a Midwife License and today this certificate is a treasured family keepsake.

She was responsible for registering the babies with the county health department and filling out birth certificates. Sometimes she was even called upon to name the infant. She also kept a book of her own, in which she made entries each time she helped with the birth of a child, listing the date, the parents’ name and the child’s name. This logbook has been misplaced now, but it is known that she assisted in over a thousand births during her years as a midwife.

She always treasured her family and their time together, but whenever she received word of an expectant mother in labor she would drop whatever else she was doing. Childbirth became the first priority. But she always said that she loved coming back home best of all. Her children would rejoice at her homecoming and she loved to tell them of her experiences with the new baby she had delivered.

Her children recall many nights when the sound of horse and wagon arriving at their home would awaken the family at a late hour ñ when mother would jump out of bed, gather up her clothes and grab her doctor’s bag of midwife supplies, and leave hurriedly in the night, to be gone for as long as two weeks at a time.

Her children grew up knowing what a special person their mother was. They could see how much people in the community counted on her and they were proud of the way she accepted this responsibility.

She handled her job in a professional manner. As soon as she returned home she emptied her doctor’s bag and carefully sterilized her instruments. She laundered her white nurse’s cap and uniform and made sure everything she needed was clean and ready to go. She repacked her instruments along with the fresh supplies she would need on her next job. Only then could she relax and enjoy being at home with her family.

Among the articles she kept in her bag were a small set of brass hand scales and a bottle of silver nitrate. Every time a child was born she immediately placed drops of silver nitrate into its eyes. And as soon as a diaper could be placed around the infant she would hook the scales to it and lift the baby in the air to determine its weight.

Whenever the women in the countryside discovered they were pregnant they would contact “Aunt Rosa” or “Good Mama” as she was affectionately known, and engage her services as midwife. The expectant mother would pay her a visit and she would take down some notes as they talked. Then, with uncanny accuracy, she would predict the date when the baby was due. Whenever she agreed to serve as midwife, she would insist that the women visit the county health clinic. In fact, the state law required that expectant mothers who were planning to use the services of a midwife had to enroll at the clinic for advice on nutrition and other health matters. In earlier days this service was not available, but after the health system was established Mrs. Bailey found that babies were healthier who were born to mothers who received this counseling.
She delivered babies throughout Charlton County, including the small villages of Toledo and Kings Ferry. Whenever she was needed out in the countryside from Winokur, the family of the expectant mother would send a person with a horse and wagon to fetch her, sometimes a week or more before the actual day the childbirth was due. Since the pregnant women were unable to do their normal housekeeping chores, Mrs. Bailey would help around the house with cooking and cleaning, staying close at hand, ready at an instant’s notice for the event.

She stayed with the family until the mother was back on her feet and able to resume some of her own housework. She tended to the other children around the house, caring for the family and getting the children off to school, but her main job was caring for the new infant and its mother.

Whenever the women lived nearby, Mrs. Bailey returned to her own home in the evenings, to take care of her own family, going back each day to tend to the newborn child and its mother. When she was satisfied that the infant was off to a good start, she returned to her own home until the next time she was called.

Usually she was paid in barter, receiving farm animals such as pigs or chickens, or food like cured meat or vegetables for her services. Sometimes when the families were too poor to pay her even in barter, she didn’t receive any payment, and instead she used her own money to help provide food and clothing for the mother and the new child.
It was always Mrs. Bailey’s dream to have one of her own children follow in her footsteps and become a midwife. None of them did, but her daughter Luevessie often helped during the birthings. Once, when Luevessie was by her side, she had just delivered a baby when word arrived that another woman had also gone into labor. She and Luevessie bundled up the baby, and as soon as they were sure the mother was all right they raced out the door to the side of the second mother. When the second child was safely born, they hurriedly returned and finished bathing the first baby.

Mrs. Bailey’s husband, Henry, died in 1947 and she moved to Folkston where she spent the last ten years of her career. Since she was now closer to most of her patients, she was able to return to her own home in the evenings. In some families she brought two generations into the world, assisting with the birth of a baby girl and then years later assisting her with the birth of still another generation.

She delivered her last baby in 1960, a little girl named Mirah to M.L. and Rosa Edwards Smith, and then instead of renewing her license, she retired.

Her love for children was well-known in Charlton County. Once, when she was resting on a bench in the old Folkston post office on First Street, a little boy began hopping and crying because he had stuck a splinter from the wood floor in his bare foot. Without hesitating, she called him over, told him to sit down, and put his little foot in her lap. She reached into her purse and took out a pocketknife with which she painlessly removed the splinter from the trusting child’s foot, and sent him smiling on his way.

One of her great joys was serving her church. She was a member of Mt. Orem Baptist Church in Brantley County and when she moved to Folkston she joined Mt. Carmel Baptist. She was active in the organizations within the church and served on the Deaconess Board. Her compassion and concern for others earned her the love of the congregation. As she grew older she took a great joy in having for her friends many of the babies she helped bring into the world.

About nine years after she retired her health became very poor and she suffered the loss of a leg. She died two years later, in 1971.

Mrs. Bailey was a black woman, but there were no color differences to her or to the mothers she assisted. Racial boundaries were invisible to the families, both black and white, who depended on her services. The women of the community knew that with her they would receive compassionate, professional care. The wisdom that came from years of experience brought her a deep respect from all the members of the community, black and white.

Very few people in Charlton County have touched the lives of so many in such a remarkable way. The memory of this mother-wife-midwife-friend still lives with many in Charlton County, especially those women who endured difficult childbirths, who knew first hand the gentle kindness of this exceptional lady. As the book of Proverbs says, “Her children rise up and call her blessed.”

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