author
Charles K. (Charles Knapp) Dillaway
1804–1889
A longtime Boston educator and classical scholar, he also wrote about local history and helped preserve one of Roxbury’s oldest surviving houses. His work connects schoolroom discipline, Latin learning, and a deep interest in New England’s past.
1 Audiobook
Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology For Classical Schools (2nd ed)
by Charles K. (Charles Knapp) Dillaway
About the author
Charles Knapp Dillaway was an American educator, editor, and author born in 1804 and associated closely with Boston and Roxbury. Sources available here consistently describe him as a classical scholar and school leader, and they place him at the Boston Latin School in the 1830s. Records of his writings also show that he edited classical texts, including works by Cicero, alongside his own historical writing.
He is especially remembered in connection with Roxbury. National Park Service material on the Dillaway-Thomas House says the property later belonged to Charles K. Dillaway, an esteemed educator who served as superintendent of Roxbury schools, and that he and his wife Martha used the house as a women’s day school and home for international students. That link between education, community life, and preservation helps explain why his name still surfaces in local history.
Dillaway died in 1889. Even from the limited surviving sources, he comes across as a teacher-scholar whose books and school work were rooted in public learning and in the history of the place where he lived.