Julia Knowlton Dyer
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Julia Knowlton Dyer (, Knowlton; better known as, Mrs. Micah Dyer, Jr.; August 25, 1829 – June 27, 1907) was an American philanthropist of the
long nineteenth century The long nineteenth century is a term for the 125-year period beginning with the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, and ending with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It was coined by Soviet writer Ilya Ehrenburg and later popularized ...
. She was associated for over 40 years with nearly every large philanthropic work started in
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. Her rare executive ability combined with an even temperament made her a natural leader of large bodies. Dyer was prominently connected with 24 associations, only one of which, the
Castilian Club Castilian Club was an American women's Study group, study Woman's club movement in the United States, club. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, February 8, 1888, by Abba Goold Woolson after a visit to Spain. Sibylla Bailey Crane was a co-foun ...
, was purely literary. She was president of the Soldiers' Home in
Chelsea, Massachusetts Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Suffolk County ( ) is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 797,936, making it the fourth-most populous county in ...
, president and founder of the Woman's Charity Club, a member of the executive boards of the Home for Intemperate Women, the Helping Hand Association, and president of the local branch of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...
(W.C.T.U.). For 26 years, she was a manager for the Home for Female Prisoners in
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, and was a life member of
The Bostonian Society The Bostonian Society was a non-profit organization in Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1881 as a historic preservation group. The Bostonian Society became part of the Revolutionary Spaces organization in 2020. History The Bostonian Society was f ...
. The Woman's Charity Club Hospital was started by Dyer, president of the Woman's Charity Club; originally located at 28 Chester Park, a few years later, a more commodious hospital was built on Boston's Parker Hill.


Early life and education

Julia Ann Knowlton was born in
Deerfield, New Hampshire Deerfield is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,855 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 4,280 in 2010 United States census, 2010. Deerfield is the location of the a ...
, August 25, 1829. Her father was Joseph Knowlton, and her mother Susan Dearborn. Upon
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are inscribed the names of her mother's grandfather, Nathaniel Dearborn, and of her own grandfather,
Thomas Knowlton Thomas W. Knowlton (November 22, 1740 – September 16, 1776) was an American patriot who served in the French and Indian War and was a colonel during the American Revolution. Knowlton is considered America's first Intelligence professional, ...
. Julia Knowlton was one of six children. Her father served in the
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, and his namesake, her brother, Joseph H. Knowlton, was a member of the secret expedition against
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, in the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. The immigrant progenitor of the Knowlton family of
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was Captain William Knowlton, who died on the voyage from
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to
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, and whose sons a few years later settled at
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, the earliest to arrive there, it is said, being John in 1639. Julia had six siblings. During her infancy, her parents removed to
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, and in 1839, they took up their residence in
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, where for 20 years, her father was connected with the Land and Water Company, besides filling important positions of trust. Up to the age of 14, her education was gained in private schools. She then went to the boarding-school of Miss Ela in Concord, New Hampshire, where she remained one year, after which she entered the New Hamilton Institute, known at that time as one of the best schools for girls in the country. At eighteen Miss Knowlton was graduated with the highest honors.


Career

After graduation, Miss Knowlton taught a year in the high school in
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, then under the principalship of Amos Hadley. She was a successful instructor in French, Latin, English literature, and higher mathematics. She prepared a large class of young men for college, in geometry. While a teacher, Miss Knowlton met Micah Dyer, Jr., then a rising young lawyer of Boston. After a short engagement, they were married, May 1, 1851, and took up their residence in Boston. Family duties occupied all of Mrs. Dyer's time during the first ten years of her married life, but as their three children (two sons and a daughter) grew up, she found time for charitable work. In 1861, the couple purchased the old estate at Uphams Corner, in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, which belonged to the Clapp family for a generation. The Captain Lemuel Clap House was situated on an elevation, and was surrounded by carefully kept lawns, with shade trees, many of which were more than 100 years old. The first tulip bulbs brought to the U.S. were planted in this garden. During the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
(1861–65) she did what she could to alleviate the sufferings of the soldiers. She was known to have fired a shot in the war which didn't injure anyone but saved a man's life.


Public works

The first public work of Dyer was on the Board of Management of the Dedham Home for Discharged Female Prisoners, to which she was appointed in 1864. For 28 years, she never failed, except during serious illness, to pay her monthly visit. When the Ladies' Aid Society was formed to aid the Soldiers' Home in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Dyer was made its secretary, and the next year, 1882, its president, a position that she held for 10 years. Dyer's military ancestry fitted her well for this office. Under her guidance, the numbers rapidly increased, and thousands of dollars were raised to give comforts to the home. The society furnished rooms, provided a library as well as many smaller luxuries. A pastel portrait of the "right bower of the Soldiers' Home" (as the trustees called Mrs. Dyer), executed by Mrs. Sarah P. Billings of the Ladies Aid, hung in the chapel of the home, and one of the rooms was set apart and named for her. During her presidency of the Ladies' Aid, she conducted several fairs, which netted a considerable amount of money. The Ladies' Aid table at the Soldiers' Carnival under her direction cleared nearly . Later, a kettledrum for the same benefit netted , and another fair for the Soldiers' Home netted . The Boston Educational and Industrial Union in 1885 asked Dyer to take charge of an entertainment for its benefit, and she arranged a Dickens Carnival, which brought in . In 1888, Dyer was at the head of the Board of Managers of the fair held in the
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by which the sum of was raised in a single week for the benefit of The Home for Intemperate Women. The Woman's Charity Club of Boston was the outgrowth of this fair. The committee of fifty women who had worked together under Dyer's guidance banded themselves together to raise money for any good object. Dyer conceived the idea of starting a free hospital for women without means in need of important surgical operations. A house at 38 Chester Park was bought, and the Woman's Charity Club Hospital started when the Woman's Charity Club had no money in its treasury. In 1892, the hospital was removed and englared at Parker Hill. The
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subsequently granted , which cleared off its indebtedness. In 1904, the Woman's Charity Club numbered nearly 7,000 members, and the Woman's Charity Club Hospital was a monument of their good work. Dyer was the president from the first; the badge of the Woman's Charity Club was a circular pin surmounted with the head of the president in bronze. In the hall of the Woman's Charity Club Hospital was another lifelike portrait of Dyer, painted by the resident physician, Ida R. Brigham. Dyer was the organizer and president of the Wintergreen Club, to which only women aged 50 and older were eligible. Among its members were
Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...
,
Mary Livermore Mary Ashton Livermore ( Rice; December 19, 1820May 23, 1905) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. Her printed volumes included: ''Thirty Years Too Late,'' first published in 1847 as a prize temperance tale, ...
, Maria Herrick Bray, Kate Tannatt Woods, and Mary Dana Hicks. Another society which Dyer initiated was the "Take Heed", from the text, "Take heed that ye speak not evil of one another." She was also president of the W.C.T.U. of Uphams Corner, an office she filled for seven years, being its second president, resigning at one time, and accepting the office again in 1899. She was a member and one of the board of directors of the Castilian Club, and a life member of the Bostonian Society. Among other societies and clubs with which she was actively connected included the Moral Education Society, the National Prison Association, the Benefit Society for the University Education of Women, the Helping Hand Society, the Dorchester Woman's Club, and the Book Review Club of Dorchester, the last-named two being strictly literary clubs. It was estimated that approximately was raised for charities through her leadership. She was also vice-president of the Federation of Woman's Clubs (covering 172 clubs). Early inclined to literary work, for which the duties that came to her left little time, Dyer wrote mainly for her clubs many essays and poems.


Personal life

The couple had three children: a daughter who died young and two sons, Dr. Willard Knowlton Dyer, a physician, and Walter Richardson Dyer, who was associated with his father in the legal profession. She was a member of the
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, but she attended regularly the services of her husband's choice, in the Church of the Unity, Boston, without comment, but without affecting her own faith. For 18 years, Dyer passed her summers at the
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. After her husband's death in 1898, she made her home with her son and his wife in Dorchester, having her own suite of rooms, where she continued to provide hospitality to others. Julia Knowlton Dyer died of
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at her home in Dorchester, Boston, June 27, 1907. Burial was at
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.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Julia Knowlton 1829 births 1907 deaths People from Deerfield, New Hampshire Philanthropists from Boston 19th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American women philanthropists 20th-century American women philanthropists Philanthropists from New Hampshire Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century Clubwomen Presidents of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union