Quimby, P. P. (Phineas Parkhurst), 1802-1866

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1802-02-16

Death 1866-01-16

Biographical notes:

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, born in 1802, was a mental healer. In 1862 and 1864, he had as a patient Mary Baker Eddy. She became his most enthusiastic follower and derived from his work her own philosophy of Christian Science. Quimby died in 1866.

From the description of Notebooks, 1859-1866 (inclusive) [microform]. (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 122568238

Healer and spiritualist.

From the description of Phineas P. Quimby papers, 1841-1887. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70979827

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866) was a New England mesmerist, teacher, and mental healer who lived in Belfast, Maine. He developed an original healing philosophy related to mesmerism and Swedenborgianism which essentially was "a belief system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God's wisdom could overcome any illness." Upon his death Quimby left behind only loosely organized and unpublished manuscripts which were later publicized by his patient-disciples, especially Annetta Seabury Dresser, Julius Dresser, and Warren Felt Evans, who developed Quimby's teachings into the New Thought or Mind Cure philosophy. A fourth disciple, Mary Baker Eddy, transformed her interpretation of the Quimby manuscripts into the basis for the Church of Christ, Scientist. Quimby is thought by some to have been the first secular psychotherapist to practice in the United States. Source: Robert C. Fuller. "Quimby, Phineas Parkhurst", American National Biography Online, Feb. 2000.

From the guide to the P. P. (Phineas Parkhurst) Quimby manuscript transcripts and other papers, ca. 1880-1951., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)