Adela Hernandez Jaime: Pioneer Midwife and Civic Leader in San Antonio (1881–1956)
Published: November 25, 2024
Updated: November 26, 2024
Adela Hernandez Jaime, midwife, civic leader, and Democratic party activist, was born in San Antonio, Texas. Genealogy listings give her date of birth as November 26, 1881, but various federal census listings vary regarding her year of birth, from about 1883 to 1889 (the year recorded on her death certificate). She was the adopted daughter of carpenter Eleuterio Hernandez and Guadalupe Romero. She attended public schools in San Antonio. When she was about fifteen, she delivered a congratulatory address to the president of the Sociedad Mutualista Benito Juarez, a mutual aid organization that assisted with hospitalization and life and death insurance. She was commended for her command of both Spanish and English. The May 2, 1898, edition of the San Antonio Daily Light reported, “The Spanish of this young lady was pure and beautiful and her manner of delivery was very effective and exhibited considerable dramatic talent.” The writer also commented that she spoke English “quite fluently,” indicating that she excelled in her education. She recited poetry and delivered speeches at numerous gatherings. In January 1902 the Daily Light described her as the “official orator” of the “Sociedad Benito Juarez Signoras y Signoritas.”
Adela Hernandez married Jesus Jaime, a carpenter, on July 31, 1907, at San Fernando Cathedral. They had only one child, Maria (born in 1920), but Adela also helped raise seven nieces and nephews.
Adela Jaime served as treasurer of the Sociedad Mutualista Benito Juarez (Benito Juarez Mutual Aid Society) from 1905 to 1919 and secretary of the Minerva Circle. In 1924, as the president of the Damas Benevolencia Mexicana Sociedad (Mexican Women’s Benevolent Society), she oversaw the sponsorship and funding of a school for Mexican children on San Antonio’s West Side. She served as financial secretary for the Woodmen of the World for more than twenty years and was a regular contributor to the Amado Nervo Social Club, whose members read and wrote poetry.
In 1926 Adela Jaime received training as a certified midwife from Dr. David Cerna of Robert B. Green Memorial Hospital. She delivered approximately 2,500 babies from 1926 through 1950 while presiding over the birth of as many as eighteen to twenty-four babies a month. She serviced the West Side of San Antonio and Cementville at the Alamo Cement Company, and she even birthed a baby during a flood after she arrived by rowboat at a mother’s residence.
According to her daughter Mary Jaime Benavides, Adela Jaime charged $25.00 per delivery but accepted baked goods and meals in lieu of payment. Her career as a midwife was profiled in a story in the San Antonio Light in 1950. Jaime stated that she charged a fee of $50 for difficult deliveries and $30.00 for a first delivery. She immediately contacted a hospital for complicated cases and frequently attended city health department instruction classes to enhance her skills. She educated women and families at federally sponsored Public Affairs Forums on health concerns in San Antonio. She also presided over the Woman’s Professional Society of Obstetrics and became an honorary president in her old age.
Adela Jaime was active in civic affairs. She translated legal documents and testified at naturalization hearings. In 1930 she and Italian American grocer and friend Ernest Broggi jointly ran for the Democratic executive committee of Precinct 16. She was one of five women to run in a field of approximately 150 men, and she was the only Mexican American woman who ran for the office and won. As a committee member beginning in February 1931, she participated in official party business. Canvasing her neighborhood, she enlisted voters. Several years later Jaime campaigned for congressman, and later mayor of San Antonio, Maury Maverick. She attended his rallies, translated his campaign speeches into Spanish, and spoke on his behalf.
Adela Jaime died on October 27, 1956, in San Antonio and was buried at San Fernando Cemetery II.
Bibliography:
Mary Jaime Benavides, Interview by Martha Lopez, September 15, 2000. La Prensa, September 30, 1926; September 16, 1939. San Antonio Daily Light, May 2, 1898; January 11, 1902; September 9, 1902. San Antonio Express, November 18, 1934; June 4, 1939; October 29, 1956. San Antonio Light, October 31, 1924; July 25, 1930; November 19, 1950.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Martha Benavides Lopez and Cynthia E. Orozco, “Jaime, Adela Hernandez,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/jaime-adela-hernandez.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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FJAIM
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- November 25, 2024
- November 26, 2024
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