Birth of Deaf Education

Although the Cogswell family mansion no longer stands, this site saw the birth of deaf education in North America, the events that would create American Sign Language (ASL). Dr. Mason Cogswell, a renowned Yale graduate and physician, lived and worked at this location. In 1807 his two year old daughter, Alice, contracted a fever and became deaf. From that day forward he worked to build a network of support to provide education for Alice and other deaf people.

In the summer of 1814 fellow Yale graduate Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet visited his family next door. He met young Alice while their siblings were playing here in the Cogswell’s garden. He successfully taught her the word “HAT” after writing the letters in the dirt and showing her his own hat. This remarkable interaction inspired Dr. Cogswell and his philanthropic partners to send Gallaudet to Europe to learn more about deaf education. Gallaudet eventually found success at The Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris and after a year of study returned to Hartford with Laurent Clerc, an intelligent deaf French educator, to set-up a formal school for deaf education.

Credits and Sources:

Photos courtesy of:

****; Keenan; ASD; Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by friends of Miss Ima Hogg, in her memory; ASD.