The house of Dr. Dix in Boston, called the "Dix Mansion," was on
Washington St., corner of Dix Place, then Orange Court. It had a large
garden behind it, where originated the Dix pear, once a favorite. Dr.
Dix died in 1809, when Dorothea was seven years old. Young as she was,
he was among the most vivid of her childhood memories and by far the
pleasantest. She seems to have been a favorite with him and it was his
delight to take her in his chaise on his rounds, talking playfully
with her and listening to her childish prattle.

Joseph Dix, the father of Dorothea, is a vague and shadowy memory. He
seems to have had little of his father's energy or good sense.
Unstable in many of his ways, he lived a migratory life, "at various
spots in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as well as in Worcester
and Boston, Mass." When Dorothea was born, he was living at Hampden,
Maine, adjoining his father's Dixmont properties, presumably as his
father's land agent. He probably tired of this occupation because it
interfered with his business. His business seems to have been
religion. He was a prolific author of religious literature. He was a
philanthropist after his kind, giving his time without stint to the
writing of religious tracts, and spending his money in publishing
them, with little benefit to the world and much detriment to his
family. In the stitching and pasting of these tracts, the whole
household were required to assist and it was against this irksome
taskwork that Dorothea, at the age of twelve, rebelled, running away
from Worcester, where the family then lived, and finding a refuge with
her grandmother in Boston. Dorothea afterwards educated her two
brothers, one of whom became a sea captain and the other a Boston
merchant.

Dorothea Dix was created by her Maker, but she was given in a plastic
state, first into the hands of inexorable Madam Dix, and next into
those of the all-pitying Dr. Channing. Madam Dix is described as a
fine specimen of the dignified, precise, conscientious New England
gentlewoman of her generation. Industry, economy, and above all
thoroughness were the chief articles of her religion, and she
instilled these virtues into the mind of her granddaughter by the most
vigorous discipline. A week of solitary confinement was among the
penalties inflicted upon the hapless child who had failed to reach
the standard of duty prescribed for her. The standard, with Madam Dix,
did not differ from perfection discerni