Caroline Healey Dall
Caroline Healey Dall was a prominent late 19th-century author, preacher, and advocate for women's rights, born in Boston, Massachusetts. The eldest of eight children in a well-to-do Unitarian family, she benefited from an education uncommon for girls of her time, receiving formal schooling and engaging with influential figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller. Dall began her writing career at the age of thirteen, contributing essays on religious and moral issues, which evolved to focus on women's rights, including education and inheritance. Her commitment to social justice was evident in her involvement with the Tuckerman Circle, where she supported the working-class poor and established a nursery school for their children.
After marrying Charles Henry Appleton Dall in 1844, she accompanied him in his ministerial roles, but their marriage became strained, and they eventually separated. Dall later gained recognition for her lectures, particularly through her significant work, *The College, The Market, and the Court*, published in 1867, which advocated for legal equality between the sexes. She played a crucial role in organizing women's rights conventions and contributed to the founding of the American Social Science Association. Dall continued her activism and writing throughout her life, maintaining a detailed journal that documented women's experiences in 19th-century America until her death at the age of ninety in Washington, D.C.
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Subject Terms
Caroline Healey Dall
Author
- Born: June 22, 1822
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: December 17, 1912
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Biography
Caroline Healey Dall, a late nineteenth century author, preacher, and champion of women’s rights, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the oldest of eight children born to Boston Unitarians Caroline Foster Healey and Mark Healey, who was a successful merchant and banker.
Although it was not customary at the time for young girls to be educated, Dall’s father made sure that she attended the best private schools and received private tutors. Furthermore, her family associated in prominent social circles, enabling Dall to be exposed to intellectuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller. These individuals greatly influenced Dall and shaped her views towards Transcendentalism and feminism. At age thirteen, Dall began contributing essays on religious and moral topics to the Christian Register. Eventually her essays began to center around women’s rights, echoing such themes as women’s education, women’s right to inheritance, and the right of women to preach.
Dall’s family attended the West Church of Boston during the ministries of Charles Lowell and Cyrus Bartol. Under their guidance, Dall taught Sunday school and attended meetings of the woman’s group the Tuckerman Circle. This organization, founded by Joseph Tuckerman, assisted the working-class poor of Boston. During her time with the Tuckerman Circle, Dall started and operated a nursery school for children of working mothers and visited the homes of the poor.
In 1842, Dall moved to the Georgetown area of the District of Columbia and worked as a vice principal of Miss English’s School for Young Ladies. She left this position in 1844 upon her marriage to Charles Henry Appleton Dall, a minister. Together they had two children.
Dall followed her husband to several different churches, where she helped with parish ministries and occasionally preached. However, their marriage was strained and, in 1855, when her husband accepted a mission to India, Dall did not move with him. They remained separated.
After her husband’s departure, Dall made her living as a lecturer. In 1867, she accumulated her lectures into her most noted work The College, The Market, and the Court: Or, Woman’s Relation to Education, Labor, and Law. This work called for legal equality of the sexes including equal education, pay, and the rights to make laws. In addition to writing and lecturing on woman’s equality, Dall organized the Women’s rights Conventions in 1855 and 1859. In 1865, she helped found the American Social Science Association—an organization that helped the poor, imprisoned, and mentally ill.
In her later years, Dall continued to lecture, write, and minister to the poor. For seventy-five years, she kept a daily journal of her activities and observations. This journal served as one of the fullest historical accounts of women’s life in nineteenth century America. Caroline Healey Dall died at age ninety in Washington, D.C.