Dorothea Dix
April 4, 1802- July 18, 1887
Dorothea Lynde Dix was born in Hampden, Maine, on April 4, 1802. Her childhood was not the best - her mother being mentally ill and her father an abusive alcoholic. Her father was almost never home, and her mother's depression provided an unhappy environment for Dorothea and her two little brothers Joseph and Charles. All she did was sleep on the attic floor and threat together religious pamphlets that her father would sell.
When Dorothea turned twelve, her grandmother left her come live with her in Boston. From this point on, Dorothea showed many interests in education and reading which would all pay off eventually. At just the age of fourteen, she opened up a small school for little children and thus gained a reputation as a good yet strict teacher. Later on, she opened up another school that was more formal. Because of her dedication to work, her fiance left her, thinking it was too unladylike. Her heart was destroyed, especially when he married another woman, and she never again had relationships with men after t hat. She "gave all her love to society's outcasts" instead.
Dorothea soon fell ill, and had to close down her school as a result. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Europe to get very much needed rest, only to fall ill again. After being nursed back to health, she came back to Boston to see that a person desperately needed her help to each a Sunday class for women in jail in East Cambridge. She ended up teaching the class herself and she was shocked when she walked in and saw their conditions. This would be the beginning of Dorothea Dix's journey to asylum reform.
When Dorothea turned twelve, her grandmother left her come live with her in Boston. From this point on, Dorothea showed many interests in education and reading which would all pay off eventually. At just the age of fourteen, she opened up a small school for little children and thus gained a reputation as a good yet strict teacher. Later on, she opened up another school that was more formal. Because of her dedication to work, her fiance left her, thinking it was too unladylike. Her heart was destroyed, especially when he married another woman, and she never again had relationships with men after t hat. She "gave all her love to society's outcasts" instead.
Dorothea soon fell ill, and had to close down her school as a result. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Europe to get very much needed rest, only to fall ill again. After being nursed back to health, she came back to Boston to see that a person desperately needed her help to each a Sunday class for women in jail in East Cambridge. She ended up teaching the class herself and she was shocked when she walked in and saw their conditions. This would be the beginning of Dorothea Dix's journey to asylum reform.