Mary Palmer Tyler
Mary Palmer Tyler, born on April 19, 1775, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was a significant figure in early American child-rearing practices. The daughter of a well-educated and financially involved family in the Revolutionary War, Tyler experienced both privilege and hardship throughout her life. Despite facing financial challenges as her family’s wealth diminished, her mother prioritized education, teaching her daughters to read and write in a nurturing environment. Tyler's early experiences as a mother's helper and her relationship with notable playwright Royall Tyler culminated in their marriage in the mid-1790s.
Tyler became a mother of eleven, and her practical knowledge of child-rearing inspired her to write "The Maternal Physician," published in 1811. This manual, notable for being one of the first of its kind written by an American woman, provided vital advice on child health and education, emphasizing the importance of parental responsibility. Following personal tragedies, including the loss of her son and her husband's financial struggles, Tyler turned to religion for solace. Her legacy continues through her contributions to parenting literature and the spiritual well-being of children, showcasing her commitment to nurturing future generations.
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Subject Terms
Mary Palmer Tyler
Nonfiction Writer
- Born: April 19, 1775
- Birthplace: Watertown, Massachusetts
- Died: July 6, 1866
Biography
Mary Palmer Tyler was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, just before the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord. She was the daughter of Joseph Pearse Palmer, a wealthy Harvard College graduate, and Elizabeth Hunt Palmer, the daughter of a storekeeper and later a working wife and mother. Her father and grandfather fought in local militias and depleted their own wealth substantially with financial donations to the revolutionary cause. Tyler did enjoy an upper- class and affectionate early childhood when living on her grandfather’s estate, but as she grew older the family’s finances grew less predictable and there was not enough money to provide a formal education for the children.
Nevertheless, Elizabeth Palmer taught her daughters to read and followed John Locke’s approach to raising her children, encouraging their personal development through experiential learning and care for their health and well-being. Joseph Palmer was adamant about his daughters being literate and encouraged them to read widely as well as to write. In 1788, with eight children in the family, Elizabeth Palmer opened their home to boarders, and Tyler, the eldest child, assisted with housekeeping. When Tyler was a teenager in 1789, she was apprenticed as a mother’s helper to well-to-do friends, and although taking on servant status damaged Tyler’s spirits, her father continually wrote her supportive and affectionate letters in which he expressed his admiration for his daughter’s natural writing skills and questioned why she read novels so voraciously.
While trying to support their children, the Palmers leased a farm in Framingham, Massachusetts, where Elizabeth Palmer also ran a tavern and the family felt removed from Boston society. Only one of their friends from the city remained close to the family; Royall Tyler, a well-known playwright and lawyer, began visiting the family often while looking to build another life after losing much of his money and being abandoned by his fiancé, John Adams’s daughter. Royall Tyler began courting Mary Palmer in 1793. Though the couple’s marriage date is debatable, they wed perhaps as early as May, 1794, and their first child, Royall, Jr., was born on December 1, 1794. The Tylers moved to Guilford, Vermont, in February, 1796.
In 1810, Tyler began writing The Maternal Physician, the child-care manual that would bring her fame. The two daughters and five sons born to her between 1796 and this time had all survived infancy, and by 1818 she had given birth to eleven children. When her husband was elected to the Vermont Supreme Court, the family moved to Brattleboro, and hired servants began helping Tyler manage the home. The Tylers also purchased a farm to bring in additional income, though Royall Tyler had little interest in it. Indeed, he was often away or engrossed in his writings, and Mary Tyler therefore focused on caring for her children. Tyler developed her own sense of child rearing by combining the methods she learned from her mother with her own experience and the advice she read in British health care manuals, which advocated more direct parental involvement with their children and charged parents with responsibility for their children’s welfare and health.
After studying various texts and with many years of child-care experience, Tyler felt confident in her expertise and delineated her child-rearing techniques and advice in The Maternal Physician, published anonymously in 1811 and dedicated to Tyler’s mother. The Maternal Physician was notable as one of the first such manuals to be written by an American woman and for providing comprehensive information on the health and education of children.
Royal Tyler lost most of his money and lost his job as an attorney in 1813, and in the same year the Tylers’ oldest son did of typhus, sending the family into difficult times. With the farm sold, the family moved to a small rented home in Brattleboro, where Tyler worked diligently to care for her children and husband, who was both physically and emotionally distressed. She found solace and comfort during this time in religion, and four of her sons became ministers; her child-care concerns came to include care for children’s spiritual health. She began a memoir in 1858, and her great-granddaughter published it in 1925.