Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
Encyclopedia
Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, LL.D., (December 10, 1787 – September 10, 1851) was a renowned American
pioneer in the education of the Deaf. Along with Laurent Clerc
and Mason Cogswell
, he co-founded the first institution for the education of the Deaf in North America, and he became its first principal. When opened in 1817, it was called the "American Asylum for Deaf-Mutes" in Connecticut, but it is now known as the American School for the Deaf
.
. He attended Yale University
, earning his bachelor's degree
in 1805, graduating at the age of seventeen, with highest honors, and then earned a master's degree
at Yale in 1808. He wanted to do many things such as study law, engage in trade, or study theology. In 1814, Gallaudet became a preacher following his graduation from Andover Theological Seminary after a two-year course of study.
However, Gallaudet's wish to become a professional minister was put aside when he met Alice Cogswell
, the nine-year-old deaf daughter of a neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. He taught her words by writing them with a stick in the dirt. Then Cogswell asked Gallaudet to travel to Europe
to study methods for teaching deaf students, especially those of the Braidwood
family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Gallaudet found the Braidwoods unwilling to share knowledge of their oral communication method and himself financially limited. At the same time, he was not satisfied that the oral method produced desirable results.
While still in Great Britain
, he met Abbé Sicard
, head of the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris
, and two of its deaf faculty members, Laurent Clerc
and Jean Massieu
. Sicard invited Gallaudet to Paris to study the school's method of teaching the Deaf using manual communication
. Impressed with the manual method, Gallaudet studied teaching methodology under Sicard, learning sign language
from Massieu and Clerc, who were both highly educated graduates of the school.
Having persuaded Clerc to accompany him, Gallaudet sailed back to America. The two men toured New England
and successfully raised private and public funds to found a school for deaf students in Hartford, which later became known as the American School for the Deaf
. Young Alice was one of the first seven students in the United States. This is where his school began. Even some hearing students came to this school to learn.
In 1821 he married one of his former students, Sophia Fowler
.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet died at his home in Hartford on September 10, 1851, aged 63, and was buried in Hartford's Cedar Hill Cemetery. There is a residence hall named in his honor at nearby Central Connecticut State University
in New Britain
.
(1837–1917) founded in 1864 the first college for the Deaf which in 1986 became Gallaudet University
. The university also offers education for those in elementary, middle, and high school
. The elementary school on the Gallaudet University Campus is named Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES), the middle and high school is Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD).
Gallaudet had another son, Thomas Gallaudet
, who became an Episcopal priest and also worked for the Deaf.
Gallaudet's father, Peter Wallace Gallaudet
, was a personal secretary to US President George Washington
, when the office of the President was located in Philadelphia.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was the eldest of 12 children. His younger siblings' names were: Edgar (1789–90), Charles (1792–1830), (unnamed baby, 1793), Catherine (1793–1856), James (1796–1878), William Edgar (1797–1821), Ann Watts (1800–50), Jane (1801–35), Theodore (1805–85), Edward (1808–47) and Wallace (1811–16). William Edgar Gallaudet graduated from Yale with a B.A. in 1815.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pioneer in the education of the Deaf. Along with Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc , born Louis Laurent Marie Clerc, was called "The Apostle of the deaf in America" by generations of American deaf people...
and Mason Cogswell
Mason Fitch Cogswell
Mason Fitch Cogswell was a United States physician.-Biography:...
, he co-founded the first institution for the education of the Deaf in North America, and he became its first principal. When opened in 1817, it was called the "American Asylum for Deaf-Mutes" in Connecticut, but it is now known as the American School for the Deaf
American School for the Deaf
The American School for the Deaf is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school in 1817.-History:...
.
Biography
Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. He attended Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, earning his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1805, graduating at the age of seventeen, with highest honors, and then earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
at Yale in 1808. He wanted to do many things such as study law, engage in trade, or study theology. In 1814, Gallaudet became a preacher following his graduation from Andover Theological Seminary after a two-year course of study.
However, Gallaudet's wish to become a professional minister was put aside when he met Alice Cogswell
Alice Cogswell
Alice Cogswell was the inspiration to Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet for the creation of the now American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut....
, the nine-year-old deaf daughter of a neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. He taught her words by writing them with a stick in the dirt. Then Cogswell asked Gallaudet to travel to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to study methods for teaching deaf students, especially those of the Braidwood
Thomas Braidwood
Thomas Braidwood was born at Hillhead Farm, Covington, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the fourth child of Thomas Braidwood and Agnes Meek. Braidwood originally established himself as a writing master instructing the children of the wealthy at his private building based in Canongate in Edinburgh...
family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Gallaudet found the Braidwoods unwilling to share knowledge of their oral communication method and himself financially limited. At the same time, he was not satisfied that the oral method produced desirable results.
While still in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, he met Abbé Sicard
Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard
Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard was a French abbé and instructor of the deaf.Born at Le Fousseret, Haute-Garonne, and educated as a priest, Sicard was made principal of a school for the deaf at Bordeaux in 1786, and in 1789, on the death of the Abbé de l'Épée, succeeded him at Paris...
, head of the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris
Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris
Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris is the current name of the famous school for the Deaf founded by Charles-Michel de l'Épée in 1760 in Paris, France....
, and two of its deaf faculty members, Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc , born Louis Laurent Marie Clerc, was called "The Apostle of the deaf in America" by generations of American deaf people...
and Jean Massieu
Jean Massieu
Jean Massieu was a pioneering Deaf educator, having been born Deaf, and having five other Deaf siblings. He taught at the famous school for the Deaf in Paris where Laurent Clerc was one of his students...
. Sicard invited Gallaudet to Paris to study the school's method of teaching the Deaf using manual communication
Manual communication
Manual communication systems use articulation of the hands to mediate a message between persons. Being expressed manually, they are received visually, and sometimes tactually...
. Impressed with the manual method, Gallaudet studied teaching methodology under Sicard, learning sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
from Massieu and Clerc, who were both highly educated graduates of the school.
Having persuaded Clerc to accompany him, Gallaudet sailed back to America. The two men toured New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and successfully raised private and public funds to found a school for deaf students in Hartford, which later became known as the American School for the Deaf
American School for the Deaf
The American School for the Deaf is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school in 1817.-History:...
. Young Alice was one of the first seven students in the United States. This is where his school began. Even some hearing students came to this school to learn.
In 1821 he married one of his former students, Sophia Fowler
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet
Sophia Fowler Gallaudet , was the wife of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. As the founding matron of the school that became Gallaudet University, she played an important role in Deaf history, even playing a key role in lobbying Congressmen in the effort to establish Gallaudet...
.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet died at his home in Hartford on September 10, 1851, aged 63, and was buried in Hartford's Cedar Hill Cemetery. There is a residence hall named in his honor at nearby Central Connecticut State University
Central Connecticut State University
Central Connecticut State University is a state university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States.The school was moved to its present campus in 1922...
in New Britain
New Britain, Connecticut
New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately 9 miles southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 71,254....
.
Family
His son Edward Miner GallaudetEdward Miner Gallaudet
Edward Miner Gallaudet , son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Sophia Fowler Gallaudet, was a famous early educator of the deaf in Washington, DC...
(1837–1917) founded in 1864 the first college for the Deaf which in 1986 became Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
. The university also offers education for those in elementary, middle, and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. The elementary school on the Gallaudet University Campus is named Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES), the middle and high school is Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD).
Gallaudet had another son, Thomas Gallaudet
Thomas Gallaudet (1822-1902)
Thomas Gallaudet , an American Episcopal priest, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His father, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, was the renowned pioneer of deaf education in the United States...
, who became an Episcopal priest and also worked for the Deaf.
Gallaudet's father, Peter Wallace Gallaudet
Peter Wallace Gallaudet
Peter Wallace Gallaudet, was a personal secretary to US President George Washington in Philadelphia. He married Jane "Jeannette" Hopkins of Hartford, Connecticut in 1787....
, was a personal secretary to US President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, when the office of the President was located in Philadelphia.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was the eldest of 12 children. His younger siblings' names were: Edgar (1789–90), Charles (1792–1830), (unnamed baby, 1793), Catherine (1793–1856), James (1796–1878), William Edgar (1797–1821), Ann Watts (1800–50), Jane (1801–35), Theodore (1805–85), Edward (1808–47) and Wallace (1811–16). William Edgar Gallaudet graduated from Yale with a B.A. in 1815.
Legacy
- Just days before his death, Gallaudet received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Western Reserve CollegeCase Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
of Ohio. - Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet UniversityGallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
took the Gallaudet name in honor of him in 1894. - A statue of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell created by Daniel Chester FrenchDaniel Chester FrenchDaniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...
sits at the front of Gallaudet University. - A memorial honoring the 100th anniversary of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet's birth was erected in 1854 at the American School for the Deaf.
- A Great Americans seriesGreat Americans seriesThe Great Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, starting on December 27, 1980 with the 19¢ stamp depicting Sequoyah, and continuing through 2002, the final stamp being the 78¢ Alice Paul self-adhesive stamp. The series, noted for its simplicity...
20¢ postage stamp was issued by the United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
in 1981 to honor him.
Sources
- Barnard, HenryHenry BarnardHenry Barnard was an American educationalist and reformer.-Biography:...
. 1852.Tribute to Gallaudet--A Discourse in Commemoration of the Life, Character and Services, of the Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LL.D.--Delivered Before the Citizens of Hartford, Jan. 7th, 1852. With an Appendix, Containing History of Deaf-Mute Instruction and Institutions, and other Documents. Hartford: Brockett & Hutchinson. (Download book: http://www.saveourdeafschools.org/tribute_to_gallaudet.pdf) - Booth, Edwin. 1881. “Booth's reminiscences of Gallaudet,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 26, Number 3, (July 1881), pages 200-202.
- Gallaudet, Edward Miner. 1888. Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet--Founder of Deaf-Mute Instruction in America, New York, H. Holt and Co. (Download book: http://saveourdeafschools.org/life_of_thomas_hopkins_gallaudet.pdf)
- Gallaudet, Thomas Hopkins. 1844. Letter to Horace Mann. Quoted in Heman Humphrey. 1857. The Life and Labors of the Rev. T.H. Gallaudet, LL.D., New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, pp. 209–212.
- Humphrey, Heman. 1857. The Life and Labors of the Rev. T.H. Gallaudet, LL.D., New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. (Download book: http://gallyprotest.org/life_and_labors.pdf)
- Peet, Isaac Lewis. 1888. “Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet,” American Annals of the Deaf, Volume 33, Number 1, (October 1888), pages 43–54.
- "Recent Deaths"; New York Daily Times; September 18, 1851; page 2. (Accessed from The New York Times (1851–2003), ProQuest Historical Newspapers, September 19, 2006).
External links
- A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl Rahhahman. New York: D. Fanshaw, 1828.
- Photographs of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet statue at Gallaudet University
- An Address on Female Education, November 21, 1827.
- A Sermon Delivered at the Opening of the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Hartford: Hudson & Co., 1817.
- A Discourse, Delivered at the Dedication of the American Asylum for the Education of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Hartford: Hudson & Co., 1821.