Malka Vizel Fuchs Berkovics, Midwife

There's often little insight into the lives of our female ancestors.  If they even list a profession, it is usually "housewife" or "at home."

But I now know the profession of my 3rd great grandmother, Malka Vizel/Wizel Fuchs/Fux Berkovics.

Birth of Hers Fux, January 24, 1887

I recently transcribed a lot of vital records (over 11,000 in the past month) from the Tecso and Taraczkoz districts of what was the Maramaros megye in Hungary (currently Subcarpathian Ukraine with a few towns in modern-day Romania).  The town then called Felso Nerecznicze (currently Novoselystya, Ukraine) was among those towns.  And these records named the midwife.

In the above record, the midwife is to the far right; it looks like my great-great-great grandmother was the midwife to her own grandson's birth; baby Hers was named after Malka's late husband (and my great-great-great grandfather).

Some 1888 births from Taraczkoz District

In the above image, Malka Wizel is listed as midwife for three births--all of those that took place in Felso Neresznicze (the town of the birth is the last column before the page break) on the page.  The first birth on the page was that of one of her grandchildren; the others are not related (at least not closely). 

Malka's 1896 death record simply lists her as a housewife.  But it seems that she was an in-demand midwife as well!

Note:  I'm on Twitter.  Follow me (@larasgenealogy).

Want to get future blog posts emailed to you automatically?
Enter your email address: