Dorothea Dix Essay -- Biography Biographies Bio

Dorothea Dix One of the Great Women of the 1800sOnce in a while a truly exceptional person has make a mark on the growth of mankind. Dorothea Dix was an exceptional woman. She wrote childrens books, she was a school teacher, and she helped reform in prisons. Some of her most notable work was in the field of making mental health institutions a better place for the patients that lived in them. Dorothea Dix gave a great deal to humanity and her achievements are still existence felt today, especially in the treatment of those with mental disabilities. Dix started out though with very humble beginnings.Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine in 1802. Her mother was not very mentally stable and her dad was an abusive alcoholic. The Dix moved from Maine to Vermont just before the British War of 1812. Then, after the war they moved to Worcester, MA. While in Worcester, the Dix had twain more children, both boys. The family would eventually break apart because of the mothers mental state and the fathers drinking.1 Dorothea Dix and her two brothers ended up piteous to Boston to live with their grandmother on their fathers side Dorothea Lynde, who was the wife of Dr Elijah Dix.2 Dix helped with the rearing of her brothers as she had done in her parents home. The grandmother tried to inculcate her Puritan ways of Bostons wealthy into Dixs mind. Grandmother Dix tried to turn young Dorothea into a nice proper girl from Boston, alone that wasnt in the cards for young Dix. The grandmother had given her dancing lessons and even her own private seamstress. Dix was not into this style of life and she would give more or less of her clothes away, and food to the poor which had infuriated her grandmother. This angered the grandmother enough to send youn... ... Patterson Smith, 1967Gollaher, David. Voice for the Mad The Life of Dorothea Dix, New York. Free Press. 1995Marshall, H.E. . Dorothea Dix, forgotten Samaritan. chapel service Hill. University of North Carolina Press. 1937