Hi Linda, As far as my schoolgirl french goes the translation from the French is 'to give birth' so probably a midwife etc. cheers Doreen Doncaster

Actually, I knew there was something strange about the use of the term - the Macquarie Dictionary gives "accoucheur" as "a man who acts as a midwife", and "accoucheuse" as a midwife. In this case, without looking at a Victorian birth certificate of that time, I think the column is "accouchuer, midwife, witness", isn't it? Maybe doctor is in there? And unless there is a way of specifying, you don't know which they fit as. But, for example, around this period I had a family member who was a herbalist (not a doctor), elsewhere in Victoria, who was tried for manslaughter for maladministration to a woman he was attending in childbirth. He would have fitted the "accoucheur" definition. So if it actually has Mrs (not Mr) King as "accoucheur" that would have been interesting. But perhaps someone who has access to a copy of "The Peck Plaques" could have a look, and let us know if one of the male Kings was an early doctor/practitioner of some sort. I know Dr Ffloyd Minter Peck was somehow married into the Kings, and there is quite a bit of medical expertise in the two families around that time. Interesting thread! Linda At 02:27 AM 11/03/05 -0500, you wrote: >Hi Linda, > >As far as my schoolgirl french goes the translation from the French is 'to >give birth' so probably a midwife etc. > >cheers > >Doreen >Doncaster > > >==== AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND Mailing List ==== >To search posts to the list, even back to 1999, go to >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl >and, when asked, enter the list name as AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND