According to Otto Rayburn and John Campbell, "granny women" were folk healers in the Appalachians and Ozarks in the late 19th/early 20th century. I see them turn up in popular media as older white women in poor communities with big herb gardens and a strong undertone of rural folk magic who were respected healers and midwives. I can't find many sources on them, though, and the ones I can find are pretty old or dodgy. Do we have strong evidence these women existed outside folklore? And if so, why did they supposedly fade out around the 30s-40s?
I don't have an academic source for this. But I have my grandmother who is from Appalachian Virginia. The Appalachian Trail crossed her side yard and the land is now part of the Jefferson National Forest. My grandmother is a sane, sensible, intelligent, and well-read woman. She and her whole family are unusually superstitious. The family did not have a high standard of health care, and they were sure doctors and the government were against the poor. Combine these two things and you can see that granny women clearly existed. My great grandmother birthed 11 children at home. 8 lived to adulthood. Her neighbor's mother was deemed a healer and a witch. My grandmother will straight faced tell you she was told never to let Mrs. G next door touch their livestock as she could kill them by touch alone. I could ask my Gram about granny women if you'd like.
Hi there folks, please keep in mind that we do not allow personal anecdotes on /r/AskHistorians. All three responses so far have had to be removed for being stories about Redditors' grandmothers.