Dix, Dorothea Lynde

Dorothea Lynde (1802-1887), an American teacher, writer, and philanthropist. She was born at Hampton, Maine, and died at Trenton, New Jersey. Miss Dix is one of the most useful women America has produced. She taught school in Worcester and in Boston. In 1830 she fell heir to property that enabled her to devote her life to the unfortunate. In 1834 Miss Dix went abroad to study English and European methods of caring for criminals, lunatics, and paupers. She was urgent in advocacy of hospitals, of clean and well-kept poorhouses, of institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind, and of orphan asylums. Her greatest work, however, lay in the direction of persuading lawmakers to provide public asylums for the insane. In this work she visited many states and addressed legislatures. Over thirty insane asylums were established. Through her efforts Congress passed a bill setting aside 10,000,000 acres of land for the maintenance of asylums for pauper lunatics, but President Pierce vetoed the measure. One result of a trip to Europe was the publication in 1845 of Prisons and Prison Discipline. She wrote also a number of books for children. During the Civil War Miss Dix superintended the hospital nurses of the Federal service. In 1903 an effort was made to secure a national appropriation of $10,000 for the erection of a suitable memorial at her birthplace. The chairman of the Congressional committee wrote, "Miss Dix occupies a conspicuous place in history as a philanthropist. Certainly no other woman in modern times has done more to earn the gratitude of the people of this country than this self-sacrificing and devoted woman."