Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet - A Cedar Hill Notable

December 10, 1787 marks the birth date of Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gallaudet was an intelligent young man who earned an undergraduate and graduate degree from Yale University. He then became a preacher after graduating from Andover Theological Seminary.

In the early 1800s, Gallaudet became interested in teaching the deaf when he met Alice Cogswell, the nine-year-old deaf daughter of his neighbor. He managed to teach Alice words by writing them in the dirt with a stick. With Alice’s father, Gallaudet traveled to Europe to learn more about teaching methods for the deaf.

In 1817, Gallaudet assisted in founding the Hartford School for the Deaf - now recognized as the American School for the Deaf - and he served as its principal for many years. In 1821, Gallaudet married a former student Sophia Fowler.

Thomas’s son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, founded the first college for the deaf in 1864 in Washington, D.C. In 1986, the college was renamed Gallaudet University.

Thomas Gallaudet died on September 10, 1851. He, his wife and his son Edward are interred at Hartford's historic Cedar Hill Cemetery.