Calvin Augustine Frye (August 24, 1845 – April 26, 1917) was the personal assistant of

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author who founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, in New England in 1879. She also founded ''The Christian Science Monitor'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning se ...

(1821–1910), the founder of Christian Science.

Biography

Calvin Frye was born in Frye Village, now part of

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

. After attending the public school in Andover, Frye was apprenticed as a machinist in Davis & Furber's machine shops in

North Andover North Andover is an affluent town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 30,915. History Native Americans inhabited what is now northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European c ...

, where he worked until he joined Eddy. He moved with his family to

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

in the early 1860s. When he was 26 years old, Calvin married Ada E. Brush of Lowell, who was visiting in Lawrence, and who attended the same church. She died one year after the marriage, and Frye moved back in with his family. Calvin and his widowed sister, Lydia Roaf, first became interested in Christian Science through a sister-in-law, Mrs. Oscar Frye. Calvin took a course of instruction under Eddy, after which he, as well as his sister, became practitioners in Lawrence, although he would only be there about a year. Calvin joined Eddy in Boston in 1882, shortly after the death of her husband Asa Eddy. Lydia followed Calvin, and for some time did Eddy's housework. Lydia later returned to Lawrence. Frye lived in Eddy's homes at 569 Columbus Avenue,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and later at Pleasant View, Concord, New Hampshire, and

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Chestnut Hill is an affluent New England village located west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is located within one or more incorporated municipal entities. It is located partia ...

. He worked as Eddy's secretary, managing her personal affairs, and dealing with her official correspondence. He was reportedly with her practically every day from August 1882, when he joined her household as her chief aide, until she died in December 1910. Frye became known locally during his lifetime for taking Eddy for a daily ride in a horse-drawn carriage, with Frye dressed in a uniform and top hat sitting next to the coachman. Among critics of the church he is known chiefly for the diary he left behind, which details Eddy's domestic life.

Caroline Fraser Caroline Fraser is an American writer. She won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, and the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, for '' Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder'', a biograph ...

, the most famous modern critic, called his notebooks "mysterious" in 1999, and claimed that at the time of writing, no outside scholars had been allowed to see the originals.Fraser, 84. In 2002, Frye's diaries, which number well over 100, were made available to the public through the

Mary Baker Eddy Library The Mary Baker Eddy Library is a research library, museum, and repository for the papers of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. The library is located on the Christian Science Center, Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, a ...

. In the hours following Frye's death, John V. Dittemore, a former member of the church's Board of Directors who had become estranged from them, entered Frye's house and removed sections from Frye's diary which he considered most incriminating, he then transcribed, photographed, and burned the originals. He later used the copies to write a critical biography of Eddy with

Ernest Sutherland Bates Ernest Sutherland Bates (14 October 1879 – 4 December 1939) was an American academic and writer. He taught English and philosophy at Oberlin College from 1903 to 1905, the University of Arizona until 1915, and the University of Oregon from then ...

in 1932. Frye is buried in the West Parish Garden Cemetery in

.Calvin Augustine Frye
''findagrave.com''.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frye, Calvin 1845 births 1917 deaths Christian Science American Christian Scientists Converts to Christian Science