Mary Baker Eddy

Lore & Background

Mary Morse Baker was born in 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire, to a Congregationalist family. As a child, she was often afflicted by unknown diseases, with episodes of sudden illness described as falling to the floor, writhing, or becoming unconscious. She rejected the Congregationalism of her family and became influenced by the Mesmerist ideas of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. After falling on ice in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1866, she reported a miraculous recovery through reading the Bible.

Eddy married three times: first to George Washington Glover, who died of yellow fever after six months; then to dentist Daniel Patterson, an unhappy marriage; and she later became the leader of the Christian Science movement. She taught her doctrine to many students in the 1860s and 1870s, opened a college in Massachusetts in the 1880s, and wrote and lectured widely while managing internal conflicts and public scrutiny. Her son, George Washington Glover II, was sent to live permanently with a household servant in 1851, a decision surrounded by controversy over her relationship with him.

Reader's Guide

Mary Baker Eddy's significance lies in founding the Christian Science movement, which emphasizes spiritual healing and the primacy of the Bible. Her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first published in 1875, became the central text of the movement. She also established The Christian Science Monitor in 1908, a respected newspaper. Her legacy is honored by Christian Scientists as the 'Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science,' while critics have viewed her methods as harmful and ineffective. The movement she started continues to have a global presence, with her writings and institutions enduring after her death in 1910.

Did You Know?

• Eddy was the cousin of U.S. Representative Henry M. Baker.
• She freed her first husband's slaves upon his death, though some biographers question whether he owned slaves.
• Her father Mark Baker was a staunch Calvinist and reportedly pleased to hear about Abraham Lincoln's death.
• Eddy's only child, George Washington Glover II, was born after her first husband died of yellow fever.