Martha Henkel
Files
Dublin Core
Title
Martha Henkel
Subject
Henkel, Martha
New Market (Va)
Henkel Maternity Hospital (New Market Va)
Description
Martha Henkel always said “I loved my babies.” After delivering over 1500 of them, its apparent she did.
Martha came to New Market in 1923 with her husband Stuart. She had grown up in Philadelphia and was trained as a nurse . In New Market she operated a boarding house until 1941, when she opened a maternity hospital, the only such institution in town.
During her career, which spanned three decades, Martha delivered babies in towns from Woodstock south to Broadway and Timberville. She recounted births in homes, cars, and the street. Martha proudly boasted “ I never lost a mother or a baby.”
Mrs. Henkel also cared for local “welfare children.” Many of these were sick and she “nursed them until they died.” Others were eventually adopted. As she lamented in 1979, “all stayed with me.”
Martha Henkel died in 1982 at the age of 85. She was survived by two children, four grand children, five great-grand children, and thousands of babies that she helped enter the world.
Martha came to New Market in 1923 with her husband Stuart. She had grown up in Philadelphia and was trained as a nurse . In New Market she operated a boarding house until 1941, when she opened a maternity hospital, the only such institution in town.
During her career, which spanned three decades, Martha delivered babies in towns from Woodstock south to Broadway and Timberville. She recounted births in homes, cars, and the street. Martha proudly boasted “ I never lost a mother or a baby.”
Mrs. Henkel also cared for local “welfare children.” Many of these were sick and she “nursed them until they died.” Others were eventually adopted. As she lamented in 1979, “all stayed with me.”
Martha Henkel died in 1982 at the age of 85. She was survived by two children, four grand children, five great-grand children, and thousands of babies that she helped enter the world.
Source
Shenandoah Valley Herald Bound Copy Collection
Publisher
Shenandoah County Library
Date
1979
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC)
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Photograph
Citation
“Martha Henkel,” Shenandoah County Library Archives, accessed April 24, 2024, https://archives.countylib.org/items/show/11513.
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