Mary E. Dillingham (b. Shipman) (1846-1895) was born and died in Lisbon, New Hampshire. In 1865 she married Francis G. Howland, a farmer, in Lisbon. They divorced, and in 1874 she married William P. Dillingham, an attorney, and they settled in Waterbury, Vermont. He served in both the Vermont House of Representatives and the State Senate, then went on to serve as governor of Vermont from 1888 to 1890, and then as a United States Senator from 1900 to 1923. During parts of this time, they resided in Montpelier, Vermont.
Dillingham became interested in Christian Science in 1884 when her sister Emily S. Wells (b. Shipman) experienced healing through Christian Science treatment. Along with her sister-in-law Nell K. Shipman (b. Keith), Dillingham studied Christian Science with Mary Baker Eddy's student Julia S. Bartlett. Both then took Eddy's Primary class at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in September 1888. Dillingham's 9-year-old son, Paul S. Dillingham, also attended the class, not as a student but, as he later wrote, due to his "mother's inability to find a suitable parking place for a wriggling boy." Paul also recalled that Ebenezer J. Foster Eddy, who later became Eddy's adopted son, played the organ for the Methodist church in Waterbury that many of his family members attended, and that his mother loaned him the copy of Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that sparked his initial interest in Christian Science.
Mary E. Dillingham went on to become a member of the Christian Scientist Association and the National Christian Scientist Association. In addition to Wells, Dillingham's sisters Christiana C. Moore (b. Shipman) and Sylvia A. Howland (b. Shipman) also became Christian Scientists, as did her niece Emma C. Shipman, who went on to become president of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1949 and 1950.
See more letters.
Mary E. Dillingham (b. Shipman) (1846-1895) was born and died in Lisbon, New Hampshire. In 1865 she married Francis G. Howland, a farmer, in Lisbon. They divorced, and in 1874 she married William P. Dillingham, an attorney, and they settled in Waterbury, Vermont. He served in both the Vermont House of Representatives and the State Senate, then went on to serve as governor of Vermont from 1888 to 1890, and then as a United States Senator from 1900 to 1923. During parts of this time, they resided in Montpelier, Vermont.
Dillingham became interested in Christian Science in 1884 when her sister Emily S. Wells (b. Shipman) experienced healing through Christian Science treatment. Along with her sister-in-law Nell K. Shipman (b. Keith), Dillingham studied Christian Science with Mary Baker Eddy's student Julia S. Bartlett. Both then took Eddy's Primary class at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in September 1888. Dillingham's 9-year-old son, Paul S. Dillingham, also attended the class, not as a student but, as he later wrote, due to his "mother's inability to find a suitable parking place for a wriggling boy." Paul also recalled that Ebenezer J. Foster Eddy, who later became Eddy's adopted son, played the organ for the Methodist church in Waterbury that many of his family members attended, and that his mother loaned him the copy of Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that sparked his initial interest in Christian Science.
Mary E. Dillingham went on to become a member of the Christian Scientist Association and the National Christian Scientist Association. In addition to Wells, Dillingham's sisters Christiana C. Moore (b. Shipman) and Sylvia A. Howland (b. Shipman) also became Christian Scientists, as did her niece Emma C. Shipman, who went on to become president of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1949 and 1950.
See more letters.