Augustus Fuller

Portrait Painter and Traveler

Augustus Fuller (1812-1873) was born deaf in Massachusetts and attended the American School for the Deaf from 1824 to 1828. His brother Aaron also studied at ASD and married fellow alumni Sophia Smith. His hearing sister ...

Lydia Huntley Sigourney

Poet and Teacher

Lydia Huntley Sigourney was born in Norwich on September 1, 1791. She began her young adult life as a teacher and opened a school for ladies in Norwich and later in Hartford at the ...

Julia Brace

Education for Those who were Deaf and Blind

Born into a poor family living in Newington, Julia Brace (1807-1884)became the first deaf and blind person to receive an education in America. Her life paved the way for other blind-deaf children ...

Clerc Family

From France to Hartford

Louis Laurent Marie Clerc was born on December 26, 1785 in La Balme, France. Born hearing, an accident by a fireplace when he was one year old caused him to become deaf. The ...

Gilbert Family of Hebron

Deaf with Support, but not Education

There had been many families with deaf children long before Alice Cogswell and the formation of the American School for the Deaf. Educational opportunities for these children were limited, but with strong family support ...

Asylum Gravesite

Resting Place for Students and Facility

The American School for the Deaf was not impervious to the childhood diseases and misfortunes that haunted the 19thcentury. Sadly some students died from illness and accidents while attending school ...

Mystic Oral School

Oralism Grows in Mystic

Zerah Whipple’s school in Ledyard had outgrown the farmhouse, and in 1876 he moved the school to a larger location. As 1893 superintendent Margaret Whipple Hammond described, “Zerah purchased from the heirs of one of Mystic's ...

Cogswell Family Gravesite

The Father and Daughter that Changed the World

The Cogswell Family and their descendants transformed the deaf community in North America. Dr. Mason Cogswell was a highly respected physician. Shortly after he graduated as valedictorian from Yale ...

Amistad Memorial

The American School for the Deaf in Hartford had an important role in the events after theAmistadMunity. Although slavery still existed when the school was founded in 1817, the transportation of African people across the Atlantic Ocean ...

The Whipple Home School for Deaf-Mutes

Different Views for Deaf Education

Jonathan Whipple successfully taught lip-reading and speech to his deaf son Enoch and paved the way for oral schools in Connecticut. Inspired by this success, his grandson, Zerah C. Whipple, developed his own method of ...