When George Glover’s son was born on September 12, 1844, he wailed in protest long beyond the time that is held proper for babies to cry.13 He was born into a house of gloom, to a mother who remained deathly ill. It has been frequently stated, although the evidence for this is not clear, that Mrs. Glover received a serious injury during the birth of her child.14 In any case, the trials preceding if not during the birth, coming on top of her chronic ill health, made her an almost total invalid for several months.
During this time the baby was nursed by a Mrs. Morrison, who had recently had twins and then lost one of them. Mrs. Glover meanwhile was cared for by Mahala Sanborn, the blacksmith’s daughter, who was a cross between “hired girl” and family friend in the Baker household.
A letter from Mahala to “Dear Dear Mary,” written while Mrs. Glover was still living happily in Wilmington, shows the warmth of this simple countrywoman’s feeling for her “Dear and old friend M” and also gives an indication why she was chosen first to care for Mrs. Glover and then for Mrs. Glover’s son during the periods when illness prevented his mother from looking after him:
Mrs Ack is vary sick indeed they fear she is in a consumption she apears vary well reconcild indeed I am not certain whether she is aware of her situation or not but should rather think she was: what a lost those Dear little children will meet with to be left orphans so young my heart akes for them when I think of their being left in a cold hearted world alone without Father or Mother to protect them from the cold looks and words of this unfeeling uncharitable world Mary I know how to pitty them you know vary well.15
As soon as Mrs. Glover was well enough, little George Washington Glover was given back into her care;16 but the presence in the same ● ● ●
13 Clara M. Sainsbury Shannon, “Golden Memories,” c. 1928, Reminiscence, pp. 12–13, MBEL.
14 It has usually been said that this was a spinal injury; but see p. 131, for Dr. Ladd’s diagnosis which may have led to this assumption.
15 Mahala Sanborn to Mary Baker Glover, 6 May 1844, 1919.001.0007, LMC.
16 In a letter of December 26, 1847, Mrs. Baker wrote her son George that “Mary has had her Child baptised called his name George Sullivan agreeable to her own desire.” [Abigail Ambrose Baker to George Sullivan Baker, 26 December 1847, 1919.001.0046, LMC.] She must have changed her mind later, for her son was known as George Washington Glover throughout the rest of his life.