Voices From Early Catharine: Dorothea (Karlin) Beilman

Yesterday, I wrote about the role of women in Volga-German society.  I briefly mentioned one realm that women dominated was folk medicine and midwifing.  The town of Catharine, like most towns in Ellis County, had a local midwife and folk healer.  Her name was Dorothea Karlin Beilman.

Dorothea was born in Katharinenstadt, Russia in 1827 [1].  She was 51 when she immigrated to the United States in 1878, settling in Catharine with her family.  She came to the United States as a widow. Very little is known about her life.  Beilman was known for her services as an herbalist, a bone-setter, and delivered children.  As an herbalist, she helped cure "chest colds, coughts, and fevers."[1]  Being a midwife required that she not only deliver the child, but stay in the house for 9 days to cook, clean, and monitor the newborn's general health.  Being an older woman also provided the "required experience" that new mothers sought in a midwife.

Her specialty was bone-setting.  A bone-setter gently massaged broken bones until it was put back into place.  One reoccuring story in local histories is of a farmer named Jacob Staab, who got his leg caught in the cog of a large wheel and broke it.  Staab could not afford to see a doctor and did not want to apputate his leg.  He consulted Beilman, who did not charge for her services.[1]  Beilman healed Staab's leg after a session.  Beilman was also known for fixing the bones of "deformed children."[2]  She eventually passed on her knowledge of folk medicine to her son-in-law, Jacob Schuetz who continued the practice.  Beilman died in 1915.[1]

Beyond local histories, no primary sources exist to examine this interesting or these medical practices.  All of her charms and herbs were done by memory and what is known comes from oral interviews by those who knew her.  This type of folk medicine was not loved by the Capuchin hierarchy, but it was known by the townspeople that she existed and people engaged her services.  Beilman is an example of developing a feminine identity in Volga-German life by keeping alive these old folk remedies, she perserved a rich cultural tradition. 

Notes:

[1] History Book Committee of the Ellis County Historical Society, At Home in Ellis County, Kansas, 1867-1992, Vols. 1 and 2 (Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1991), 230.

[2] Timothy J. Kloberdanz, “The Daughters of Shipharah: Folk Healers and Midwives of the Great Plains,” Great Plains Quarterly (Winter 1989).