CAROLINE WELLS HEALEY DALL, 1822-1912

Caroline Wells Healey Dall was a prodigious writer (see the Goodspeed list, and the large collection of materials at the Mass. Historical Society). This collection consists of 1 v. of copies of her husband's poems [Charles Henry Appleton Dall, 1816-1886] done at his request in 1853. In 1841 Caroline W. Healey attended Margaret Fuller's Conversations held at the Rev. Geo. Ripley's home, Bedford Place, Boston. In 1 v. she has recorded the conversations held from March 1 to May 5, 1841. Among the members were Wm. White, Fred. H. Hedge, James Freeman Clarke, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sophia & George Ripley, Wm. Story, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Caroline Sturgis, Elizabeth Hoar, Ida Russell, Sallie Gardiner, Frank & Sarah Shaw. There are quotes from CWH's journal for 1841 about these meetings, as well as many interesting tidbits about Margaret Fuller(1810-1850) culled from many sources and reminiscences thru 1895.

In the winter of 1864/1865, Mrs. Dall held many interesting conversations with Mrs. R.P. Clarke (Rebecca Parker Hull Clarke d.1865), the mother of James Freeman Clarke, in preparation for the biography of "A business woman." These are delightful reminiscences and even include reference to Margaret Fuller's trip West in 1843.

There is an interesting series of letters from John Patton of Toronto covering the years 1851-1869.

Four volumes of clippings record the obituaries of personal friends and others whom Mrs. Dall knew from her public contacts, 1874-1909.

For a more detailed biography, see the inventory for her papers, MC 351 .

Caroline Wells (Healey) Dall, author and reformer, was born on June 22, 1822, in Boston, Massachussetts; attended Joseph Hale Abbot's private girls' school; married the Rev. Charles Henry Appleton Dall in 1844; they had a son, William Healey, born 1845, and a daughter, Sarah Keene Healey, born 1849, who married Josiah Munro.

CHD was vice-principal of Miss English's School, Georgetown, D.C., 1842-1844, and one of three founders, 1865, of the American Social Science Association, and until 1905 its director and vice-president. She received an honorary LL.D. from Alfred University in 1877, and died on December 17, 1912, in Washington, D.C.

For additional biographical and bibliographical information, see Notable American Women (1971), vol. 1, pp. 428-429.