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 in 1780, he joined his brother in New York City to work as a surgeon at a soldiers’ hospital during the American Revolution. Moving to Hartford, he pioneered surgical techniques for both cataracts and tying the carotid artery.
The Cogswells had many children, but only Alice became deaf after contracting cerebral-spinal meningitis, or spotted fever. Her condition concerned her father, as there were no well-established schools for the deaf in the United States. Cogswell met Rev. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet in 1814 and with the help of other influential leaders in Hartford, raised funds to send Gallaudet to Europe to study deaf education. Upon his return in 1816 with Laurent Clerc, they opened the American School for the Deaf in 1817.
Nearby are the final resting places of their eldest daughter, Mary Austin Weld and her family. The Welds continued the Cogswell Family’s efforts for better education in the Deaf Community. Mary’s husband, Lewis Weld, became the second principal at ASD and served for 22 years from 1831-1853. Their sons, Lewis Ledyard and Charles, fought and died in the American Civil War. Lewis Ledyard Weld served as the Lieutenant Colonel for the 41stU.S. Colored Troops leading African American soldiers into action until his unexpected death from illness in 1865.Credits and Sources:
Photos courtesy of:
Keenan; Keenan; ****; ****.
