Dorothea Dix
This article is about the 19th-century activist. For the journalist, see Dorothy Dix.
Dorothea Lynde Dix
Dix-Dorothea-LOC.jpg
Born April 4, 1802
Hampden, Maine, US
Died July 18, 1887 (aged 85)
Trenton, New Jersey, US
Occupation Social reformer
Parent(s) Joseph Dix
Mary Bigelow
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 18, 1887) was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Early life
Born in the town of Hampden, Maine, she grew up first in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the first child of three born to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow, who had deep ancestral roots in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Her father was an itinerant worker as a Methodist preacher. At the age of twelve, she sought refuge with her wealthy grandmother, Dorothea Lynde (wife of Dr Elijah Dix) in Boston to get away from her alcoholic parents and abusive father. About 1821 Dix opened a school in Boston, which was patronized by well-to-do families.
Soon afterward she also began teaching poor and neglected children out of the barn of her grandmother's house, but she suffered poor health. From 1824 to 1830, she wrote mainly devotional books and stories for children. Her Conversations on Common Things (1824) reached its sixtieth edition by 1869. Her book The Garland of Flora (1829) was, along with Elizabeth Wirt's Flora's Dictionary, one of the first two dictionaries of flowers published in the United States. Other books of Dix's include Private Hours, Alice and Ruth, and Prisons and Prison Discipline.
After Dix's health forced her to relinquish her school, she began working out as a governess for the family of Dr. W. E. Channing. It was while working with this family that Dix traveled to St. Croix, where she first witnessed slavery as one of the evils of the world.
In 1831, she established a model school for girls in Boston, operating it until 1836, when she had another health breakdown.[3] Dix was encouraged to take a trip to Europe to help aid her health by her physician. When she was there she met the other reformers who inspired her to start working on equal rights for the mentally ill. These reformers were Elizabeth Fry, Samuel Tuke and William Rathbone with whom she lived during the duration of her trip in Europe.
In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to England, where she met the Rathbone family. They invited her as a guest to Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in Liverpool. The Rathbones were Quakers and prominent social reformers. At Greenbank, Dix met their circle of men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. She was also introduced to the reform movement for the care of the mentally ill in Great Britain, known as lunacy reform. Its members were making deep investigations of madhouses and asylums, publishing their studies in reports to the House of Commons.
This article is about the 19th-century activist. For the journalist, see Dorothy Dix.
Dorothea Lynde Dix
Dix-Dorothea-LOC.jpg
Born April 4, 1802
Hampden, Maine, US
Died July 18, 1887 (aged 85)
Trenton, New Jersey, US
Occupation Social reformer
Parent(s) Joseph Dix
Mary Bigelow
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 18, 1887) was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Early life
Born in the town of Hampden, Maine, she grew up first in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the first child of three born to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow, who had deep ancestral roots in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Her father was an itinerant worker as a Methodist preacher. At the age of twelve, she sought refuge with her wealthy grandmother, Dorothea Lynde (wife of Dr Elijah Dix) in Boston to get away from her alcoholic parents and abusive father. About 1821 Dix opened a school in Boston, which was patronized by well-to-do families.
Soon afterward she also began teaching poor and neglected children out of the barn of her grandmother's house, but she suffered poor health. From 1824 to 1830, she wrote mainly devotional books and stories for children. Her Conversations on Common Things (1824) reached its sixtieth edition by 1869. Her book The Garland of Flora (1829) was, along with Elizabeth Wirt's Flora's Dictionary, one of the first two dictionaries of flowers published in the United States. Other books of Dix's include Private Hours, Alice and Ruth, and Prisons and Prison Discipline.
After Dix's health forced her to relinquish her school, she began working out as a governess for the family of Dr. W. E. Channing. It was while working with this family that Dix traveled to St. Croix, where she first witnessed slavery as one of the evils of the world.
In 1831, she established a model school for girls in Boston, operating it until 1836, when she had another health breakdown.[3] Dix was encouraged to take a trip to Europe to help aid her health by her physician. When she was there she met the other reformers who inspired her to start working on equal rights for the mentally ill. These reformers were Elizabeth Fry, Samuel Tuke and William Rathbone with whom she lived during the duration of her trip in Europe.
In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to England, where she met the Rathbone family. They invited her as a guest to Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in Liverpool. The Rathbones were Quakers and prominent social reformers. At Greenbank, Dix met their circle of men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. She was also introduced to the reform movement for the care of the mentally ill in Great Britain, known as lunacy reform. Its members were making deep investigations of madhouses and asylums, publishing their studies in reports to the House of Commons.
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