Edward Miner Gallaudet - Biographical Article in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography

Biographical Article in The National Cyclopedia of American Biography

GALLAUDET, Edward Miner, educator, was born at Hartford, Conn., Feb. 5, 1837, youngest son of Rev. Thomas Hopkins and Sophia (Fowler) Gallaudet. After attending the high school of his native city for three years, he became, at the age of fourteen and a half, a clerk in the Phoenix Bank in the same place. He was several times promoted, and received flattering offers from other banks, but in 1854 gave uр business and entered Trinity College. In two years' time he completed a course of study which entitled him to the degree of B.S. In this time he covered ground ordinarily requiring four years of study, and often had recitations with the four college classes at the same time, in December, 1855, he began teaching three hours a day in the School for Deaf-Mutes, at Hartford, founded by his father, and on his graduation at college, in 1856, he assumed full duties as an instructor in that institution. In May, 1857, Mr. Gallaudet was invited to Washington, D. C., by Hon. Amos Kendall, to organize a new school for deaf-mutes, chartered by congress, in February of that year. Though not of legal age he at once took charge of this important institution, with the assurance from the board of directors, of which Mr. Kendall was president, that they looked with favor on his scheme, then definitely proposed, to develop the new school into a college. In 1864 congress gave the Columbia Institution collegiate powers, and Mr. Gallaudet, at the age of twenty-seven, was made president of the college he had founded. Liberal appropriations from congress have enabled the college to carry out the plans of its president for the higher education of the deaf, and after thirty-five years of most successful work it is still the only college for the deaf in the world. Beautiful grounds and buildings have been provided by congress, and an ample corps of professors carries forward the education of young deaf-mutes of both sexes to the point of graduation in the liberal arts. Pres. Gallaudet, besides conducting the affairs of the institution in all its departments, planning and superintending the erection of its buildings, has found time for considerable literary work, and has visited Europe four times in the interest of his profession. He has been a contributor to the "American Annals of the Deaf," the "New Englander," the "Penn Monthly," "Harper's Monthly," "International Review," and other publications. In 1879 he published a "Manual of International Law," now used as a text-book in many colleges. In 1887 he published a "Life of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (his father). Founder of Deaf-Mute Education in America." His first visit to Europe was in 1867, after which he published a report on schools for the deaf in Europe, which exerted an important influence in promoting the oral teaching of the deaf in this country. His second official Visit to Europe was made in 1880, when he went as a delegate to an international convention of instructors of the deaf at Milan. He took an active part in the discussions of the convention, and commented on its proceedings in the London "Times" and several American journals. In 1886 Dr. Gallaudet was invited by the British government to visit London for the purpose of giving testimony before the royal commission on the blind, deaf and dumb, etc. He appeared before the commission in November, and it is understood that his account of methods approved in America had an important influence in shaping the policy of the commission, whose recommendations have been favorably considered by parliament. Dr. Gallaudet has been for thirty years chairman of the executive committee of the convention of American institutes of the deaf; was one of the founders and has been president of the Cosmos Club; was Garfield's successor as president of the Literary Society of Washington; is an active member of the American Social Science Association, and has been chairman of the department of education: is a member of the Philosophical and Anthropological societies of Washington, and of the American Historical Society and the Huguenot Society, and is president of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The degree of Ph.D. was conferred upon him by Columbian University, in 1869, and that of LL.D. by Trinity College, Hartford, the same year, and by Yale University, in 1895. Dr. Gallaudet was married, in Hartford, Conn., July 20, 1858, to Jane M. Fessenden, daughter of Edson and Lydia W. Fessenden. Mrs. Gallaudet died in 1866. He was married again, Dec. 22, 1868, to Susan, daughter of Joseph A. and Elizabeth (Skinner) Denison. He has three sons and three daughters.

(National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 9, New York: James T. White & Company, 1899, pp. 140–141.)