Morgan Dix

Morgan Dix (November 1, 1827 in New York City – April 29, 1908) was an American Episcopal Church priest, theologian, and religious author.

Morgan Dix
Born(1827-11-01)November 1, 1827
New York City
DiedApril 29, 1908(1908-04-29) (aged 80)
New York City
Alma materColumbia College
General Theological Seminary
EmployerTrinity Church, New York
Parent(s)John Adams Dix
Catherine Morgan

Early life

Dix was born on November 1, 1827 in New York City. He was the son of Catherine Morgan, the adopted daughter of Congressman John J. Morgan (1770-1849), and Major General John Adams Dix (1798-1879), U.S. Senator from New York (from 1845–1849), Secretary of the Treasury (from January-March 1861), Governor of New York (from 1873–1874) and Union major general during the Civil War. His father was notable for arresting six members of the pro-Southern Maryland legislature,[1] preventing that divided border state from seceding, and for arranging a system for prisoner exchange via the Dix–Hill Cartel, concluded in partnership with Confederate Major General Daniel Harvey Hill.

Dix was educated at Columbia College and the General Theological Seminary.

Career

For almost fifty-three years, he was identified with Trinity Church, New York, of which he became assistant minister in 1855 and rector in 1862.

As well as being a very active churchman, Dix also wrote widely about the practice of Christianity. Among his major works are Commentaries on Romans and on Galatians and Colossians; The Calling of a Christian Woman; The Seven Deadly Sins; The Sacramental System; and Lectures on the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI.Louis Harmon Peet.[2]

Rapid Transit to Sheol - Where We Are All Going According to the Reverend Dr. Morgan Dix
1888 satirical cartoon by Joseph Keppler in Puck magazine
All Saints’ Chapel

He objected to the entrance of girls into universities, because it was not "proper for young women to be exposed to the gaze of young men, many of whom were less bent upon learning than upon amusement."[3] He was an hereditary companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

In 1880, he was subject to a sinister hoax that stretched over several months and became the subject of much comment in the New York City newspapers of the time.[4] The arrest of the hoaxer (who was subsequently given a prison sentence) ended the incident.

Personal life

In 1874 Dix married Emily W. Soutter,[5] (b. New York) whose parents James T. Soutter and Agnes G. Knox were from Virginia.[6] Together they had:

  • John A. Dix,[7] a 1902 graduate of Harvard who married Sophie W. Townsend, the granddaughter of Howard Townsend and Justine Van Rensselaer[8]
  • Emily Margaret Gordon Dix, who married Charles Lanier Lawrance (1882–1950) in 1910[7]
  • Catherine Morgan Dix, who married William H. Wheelock[7]

On the north side of the Trinity Church is the All Saints’ Chapel, added in 1913 in honor of Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, Rector from 1862-1908. A cenotaph (or memorial) in the likeness of Dix is in the entry to the Chapel.

References

Notes

  1. Thomas J. Reed (12 November 2015). Avenging Lincoln’s Death: The Trial of John Wilkes Booth’s Accomplices. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-61147-828-0.
  2. Staff (1907) Morgan Dix Handy Book of American Authors. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Co.
  3. The Arena Volume 4, No. 22, September, 1891 (available on Gutenberg)
  4. The Great Trinity Church Hoax
  5. New York City Marriages: Emily W. Soutter
  6. 1860 U.S. Federal Census: Emily W. Soutter
  7. Staff (April 5, 1910). "Miss Dix to be a Bride; Daughter of Late Rector of Trinity to Wed Charles Lanier Lawrance". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  8. Kerstein, Bob. "Charles Lanier". smokershistory.com. Bank History, Central Trust Company of New York. Retrieved 7 April 2016.

Bibliography

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