Dix, Dorothea Lynde (1802–1887)

Biographical Details

Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine, on April 4, 1802. Her parents, Joseph and Mary Dix, were inattentive and abusive to Dorothea and her two younger brothers, Joseph and Charles. Her father was an alcoholic itinerant preacher, who rode circuit and was frequently absent from home. Her mother, who suffered from depression and was often bedridden, did not adequately care for the children. By the time she was 10, Dorothea was expected to care for her younger brothers and to stitch religious tracts, which her father sold.

Photo 1 Dorothea Dix

Shortly before the War of 1812 began, the family moved to Vermont, and later to Worcester, Massachusetts. When she was 12, Dorothea and her brothers went to live with their wealthy paternal grandmother in Boston. Madame Dix attempted to educate Dorothea and turn her into a socialite. However, Dorothea had no interest in dancing or fine clothes and was eventually sent to live with her great-aunt, Sarah Duncan, in Worcester. While there, Dorothea opened a small “dame school” for girls between the ages of six and eight. She ran this school until 1819, when she returned to Boston and opened a school for older children in a building on her grandmother's estate. The school flourished and, after her father's death in 1821, allowed her to support her widowed mother. In addition to teaching, [Page 252]she also wrote poetry, children's textbooks, and religious tracts for children.

Dix was not physically strong and suffered from tuberculosis during the 1830s. In 1836, she collapsed and was forced to close her school. Upon her doctors' recommendation, she left for a long holiday in Europe. While visiting friends in England, Dix met prison reformers such as Elizabeth Fry and Samuel Tuke, who were attempting to develop more humane treatments for the mentally ill.

Becoming a Social Reformer

Dix returned to Boston in 1838, after the deaths of her mother and grandmother. Her inheritance from her grandmother, combined with royalties from the sale of her books, gave her financial independence. In 1841, she was asked to teach a Sunday School class for women inmates in the East Cambridge Jail. She was appalled at the conditions in which the inmates lived. Criminals, children, and the mentally ill were crowded together in filthy, unheated cells without furniture or blankets. Many were naked, physically abused, and underfed. This experience greatly affected her and was the impetus for what would become her lifelong passion: a dedication to improving conditions for individuals suffering from mental and emotional disorders.

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