Dixon-Carroll, Elizabeth Delia

By Warner Wells, 1986

4 Feb. 1872–16 May 1934

Elizabeth Delia Dixon-Carroll, physician and director of medical services, professor of physiology and hygiene, and infirmary physician of Meredith College, Raleigh, was born in Shelby of English and Scottish ancestry. She was the daughter of Thomas Dixon, Sr., a Baptist minister in Shelby who was much respected in western North Carolina, and Amanda McAfee Dixon. One brother, Clarence, was a celebrated Baptist preacher in London, England; another, Thomas, Jr., author and lecturer, wrote The Clansman, the stirring Civil War story that was adapted for the motion picture Birth of a Nation. A sister, Addie May, was married to a Presbyterian clergyman, J. E. Thacker of Norfolk, Va.

Elizabeth Delia attended public school in Shelby; she was awarded an academic degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. and a medical degree in 1895 from Women's Medical College (later Columbia) in New York City. That year she rated first among two hundred medical licentiates. While enjoying an adventure of world travel following graduate training, she met and became engaged to Dr. Norwood G. Carroll, a young dentist of Magnolia. They were married in about 1900 after both had begun practice in Raleigh.

When Meredith College opened on 27 Sept. 1899, Dr. Dixon-Carroll became its first physician, holding the position until her death thirty-five years later. Her course in physiology and hygiene was eagerly sought; confidante and counselor, she was dearly loved by students and faculty alike and respected by her professional colleagues. She insisted on strict preventive medical practices and took pride in the fact that during her entire tenure she never lost a patient, the deadly influenza epidemic of 1917–18 notwithstanding. From mid-fall to spring she insisted that all students wear high-topped shoes and warm underwear with sleeves to the wrists.

Public-spirited, she espoused the causes of woman suffrage and youth welfare. She advocated reform in the care of delinquent youth before the North Carolina legislature, exciting an enthusiasm reminiscent of the General Assembly's response to Dorothea Dix in the 1840s when the latter pleaded for improved treatment of the mentally ill. In 1917 the legislature enacted a bill to "establish 'The State Home and Industrial School for Girls and Women' for the reclaiming and training of delinquents, $25,000.00 having been appropriated for the purchase of grounds and the erection of buildings, and $10,000.00 annually for operating expenses." Dr. Dixon-Carroll was on its board of directors, appointed by Governor Thomas W. Bickett. Acting for the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs, an organization that she helped establish, she was influential in the purchase of a defunct school for boys at Samarcand in Moore County, comprising 224 acres and buildings in good repair. For favorable psychological impact, the school and farm were given the name Samarcand Manor; it was one of the first establishments of its kind in the South. Each Christmas, Meredith College students enhanced its holiday sparkle by sending Christmas stockings.

Dr. Dixon-Carroll was the first woman medical practitioner in Raleigh. She maintained private offices for many years with Dr. Bessie Evans Lane, who assisted her at Meredith College and on her death succeeded her at Meredith. In addition to her general medical practice, Dr. Dixon-Carroll practiced ophthalmology and counseled both young and older women. She was a member of the American Medical Association, the North Carolina Medical Society, and the Raleigh Academy of Medicine of which she was one-time president. She was also an honorary member of the North Carolina Dental Society, founding member and first president of the Raleigh Women's Club and the North Carolina State Federation of Women's Clubs, vice-president (1917–30) and president (1930–34) of the board of directors of Samarcand Manor, founding member and president of the Raleigh Garden Club, and a member of the Fortnightly Review Club.

She and her husband had no children. After their marriage a young nephew of Dr. Norwood Carroll, Herbert Norwood, became a frequent visitor to their hospitable and rustic log home, Nordel Hill, in the old Bloomsbury section of north Raleigh and in time was like an adopted son. He enhanced the Carrolls' pleasure in a leisurely cruise around the world when his uncle retired from dentistry in 1914. Later he was graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis to become a career officer. Serving with distinction during World War II, he was reported missing in action when his ship was lost during the Battle of the Solomon Islands. A naval fighting ship bears his name.

Dr. Dixon-Carroll died in Rex Hospital, Raleigh, of injuries suffered in an automobile accident the previous day. The funeral service was conducted in the First Baptist Church by the Reverend Dr. J. Powell Tucker. The Reverend E. McNeill Poteat said in eulogy, "She was utterly impatient of things that cramped the human spirit." Burial was in Oakwood Cemetery. Her husband died on 5 Apr. 1942 while visiting friends in Cincinnati.