Historical records matching Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
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About Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet
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- Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet From Wikipedia, the free 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.
Biography
Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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.
Family
His son Edward Miner Gallaudet (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).[10] 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 College of Ohio.
Gallaudet University took the Gallaudet name in honor of him in 1894.
A statue of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell created by Daniel Chester French 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 series 20¢ postage stamp was issued by the United States Postal Service in 1981 to honor him.
- Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jan 9 2016, 3:44:33 UTC
Education Pioneer. In 1817 he co-founded he first institution designed for educating the deaf and hearing impaired, and became a leading pioneer of education for the deaf. Gallaudet University in Washington, DC is named in his honor. Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: May 16, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 22302
- Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 9 2016, 3:40:00 UTC
Education Pioneer. In 1817 he co-founded he first institution designed for educating the deaf and hearing impaired, and became a leading pioneer of education for the deaf. Gallaudet University in Washington, DC is named in his honor. Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: May 16, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 22302
- Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 9 2016, 4:43:00 UTC
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Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet's Timeline
| 1787 |
December 10, 1787
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Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States
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| 1822 |
June 3, 1822
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Hartford County, Connecticut, United States
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| 1824 |
February 1, 1824
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| 1827 |
November 13, 1827
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1827
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| 1829 |
1829
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| 1831 |
April 3, 1831
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| 1833 |
September 15, 1833
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Hartford, Hartford County, CT, United States
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| 1837 |
February 5, 1837
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Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States
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| 1851 |
September 10, 1851
Age 63
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Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States
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