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 Hattie learned sign and communicated frequently with deaf people.

Fuller wrote extensively to his family and friends as he traveled across New England and New York. Throughout his travels, he returned to his family farm to help with cranberry crops.  In April 1832, he wrote to his family that, “Chatham is a pleasant village about 20 white houses on the hill and often see the steamboats pass on the Connecticut River. Some persons work at the Garrison or red rocks, they have money much, I have good opportunity to stay here to paint about 5 or 7 portraits at no less than $10 each!”

Although he was a talented artist, he struggled with alcoholism. As a result he socialized with unsavory characters and was arrested for public intoxication and other offenses. In January 1851, he served six months in Springfield, MA for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Fuller wrote to his brother George that no one who spoke sign language was available for his trial and that the judge refused to allow him to write out his answers. Therefore he could not adequately defend himself in court and he lamented to his brother, “God pity the poor, ignorant and the deaf mute…”

His family and friends worried about his well-being and wrote, encouraging him to stay closer to home. Fellow ASD student George Caldwell wrote to Fuller’s family after seeing him in Boston in 1840 that he should be brought home before he became a danger to himself. He managed to stay out of trouble for the remaining years of his life and returned home to Deerfield. In 1873, he died of consumption at his family farm.

Credits and Sources:

Photos courtesy of:

Smithsonian; Smithsonian; ASD; ****.