Mary Bertha (July 18, 1913 – November 9,1998) was the daughter of William (Uncle Bill) and Ethel Peddle of Hodge’s Cove. She married Robert Drover and they had three daughters. Robert passed away at the age of 36 and Mary Bertha was left to raise her only surviving daughter as well as her sister’s two children. Later she met and married Andrew Sweetapple of Glovertown and they had a son.
Mary Bertha was a midwife in both the Hodge’s Cove and Glovertown areas. She helped to bring between 200 and 300 hundred babies into the world.
Special thanks to her granddaughter and great-granddaughter, Donna Whalen Peach and Stephanie Peach Sparkes, for this information and photos.
Information taken from The Role of Newfoundland Midwife in Traditional Health Care 1900 – 1970
by Janet Elizabeth McNaughton, 1989. (PhD. Thesis)
Mary Bertha was a midwife from 1951-1960. She delivered her first baby when she was about 40 years old. She delivered over 200 babies in Hodge’s Cove and area and in Glovertown. Her fee was between $2 and $5. Mary Bertha completed the Public Health Midwife Course in 1953.