Memoir: Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race (1883)

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CHAPTER I V . F A M I L I E S OP D E A F - M U T E S . The reports ot the American Asylum, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Inbtitutions show that in each institution deaf-mutes have been received who belong to families containing five, S I X , or even more deaf-mutes ; and there is abundance of evidence to indicate that such fam- ilies are very numerous in the United States. In cases where there are five or six children of one family deaf and dumb some of them marry when they grow up, and in many cases they marry persons who belong, like themselves, to families containing sexeial deaf-mutes. Thus it happens that we have here and there, scattered over the country, groups of deaf mute families connected together by blood and marriage. The probability is very strong that the deaf mute children of deaf-mute marriages will at some time or other make their appearance in the educational institutions of the country, and wo might reasonably hope to be able to trace the family relations from the published reports of the institutions. Unfortunately, in the majority ot cases, the information that can be gleaned in this way 18 very fragmentary and unceitain, for the names of the husbands and wives of the pupils are rarely quoted, so that it is impossible in the great majority of cases to trace the connections. A female deaf-mute, when she marries, changes her name to that of her husband; the new name is not recorded lu the institution reports, and we lose track of her branch of the family. Should she have deaf ottspring they make their appearance in the institntion under another family name, and the connection is not obvious. So far as my reseaiches have gone they indicate the probability of a connection by blood or marriage between many of the largest of the deaf mute families of the New England States. In the following diagram (Fig. 1) I exhibit the results ot an attempt to trace the connections of the Brown family, ot Henniker, N. H . , in which there are known to be at least lour generations of deaf-mutes. O ludicatcs a heanng and speaking peraou O In licat(.3 a doaf-mnte = Tiiilicntcs mnmoge 0 SmxCh. if a) ? f r r t I O O ( • no 1 —The Brown family of Ueunikor, X H , aad a few of its connections 28 

T H E FORMATION OF A D E A F V A R I E T Y OF T H E HUMAN RACE. 29 The Btown family, of Henniker, JV. H.—The ancestor of this family was one of the early pioneers of New Hampshire. He left Stowe, in Massachusetts, somewhere about the year 1787, and settled in Henniker, N. H . His deaf-mute sou Nahum (born in 1772) married a hearing lady, by whom he had a son and daughter, both deaf and dumb. His son Thomas, when he entered the Amencan Asylum as a pupil, was recorded to have had "an aunt and two cousins deaf and dumb." (This branch of the family has not yet been certainly identified.) Thomas married a deaf-mute (Mary Smith, of Chil- mark, Mass.), by whom he had two children, Thomas L . (a deaf-mute) and a hearing daughter who died young. The son Thomas L . married a hearing lady (Almira G . Harte, of Burlington, Vt.), and removed to Michigan, where he became one ot the teachers of the Michigan Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. I have no information concernjng his descendants. The deaf mute daughter ot Nahum married a hearing gentleman, Mr. Bela M. Swett, of Hen- niker, N. H . , by whom she had three sons (Thomas B . , William B . , and Nahum). The eldest son, Thomas, was born deaf; the second son, William, was born deaf m one ear, and lost the hearing ot the other in childhood from measles; and the third son, Nahum, could hear. The eldest son; Thomas, married a deaf-mute, and his three children (Mitchell, Charlotte E . , and Mary S.) are deaf-mutes The second son, William, married a deaf mute (Margaret Harrington) by whom he had five children, all of whom could hear at birth, but two of them (Persis H . and Lucy Maria) lost their hearing so early in life as to necessitate their education in institutions for the deaf and dumb. Two others difed young and one has retained her hearing into adult life. The eldest daughter (Persis, born 1852) has married a deaf mute. I t will thus be seen that three families of deaf mutes have sprung from Nahum Brown, and in two of these the deafness has descended to the fourth generation. I n the other family it descended to the third generation, beyond which I have been unable to trace the family. The deaf mute connections of the Brown family have only been partially worked out. 1. The wife of William B . Swett was Margaret Harrington, who had a deaf-mute brother, Patrick, who married a deaf mute (Sarah Worcester), who had a twin deaf-mute brother (Frank), who married a deaf-mute (Almira Huntington), who had a deaf-mute sister (Sophia M.), who married a deaf-mute (James R . Hines).* Frank Worcester, one of the twin deaf-mutes has a deaf-mute son— the other twin (Susan) has a child who hears. 2. On the other side of the family, the wife of Thomas Brown (Mary Smith, of Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard) had a hearing brother (Capt. Austin Smith), who had two deaf-mute children (a son and a daughter). The son (Freeman N.) married a deaf-mute (Deidama West).t Mrs. Brown also had a deaf-mute sister (Sally), who "married a hearing man of Martha's Vineyard (Harifit Mayhew) who had 5 deaf-mnte brothers and sisters." The Lovejoy family.—This is another New Bughind family in which deafness has been handed down through four generations. Benjamin Lovejoy, a deaf mute, of Sidney, Me , is recorded in • The father and mother of James R Hiues (Isaac and Sophia) were both deaf-mutes, and he has a deaf-mnte son (Eddie), and a cousin deaf and dumb His niuther (Sophia Rowley) aUo has a deaf-mute cousin t They had a deaf-mute daughter (Lovina) Deidama West had a deaf-mute mother, Deidania (Tilton) West, and two maternal uncles deaf and dumb (Franklin and Zeno Tilton) who mairied deaf-mutes She also had tfiree brothers aud one sister deaf aud dumb (George, Benjaniiu, Joseph L , and Rebecca) George mari led a deaf-mute (Sabrina Rogers), and has a deaf-mute child (Ev j, S West) Benjamin married a hearing lady (Maiy Hathaway) I have no informa- tion conceruing their offspring Rebecca manied a deaf-mnte (Eugene Tiask), who h.id a deaf-mute brother (John Trask) who married a deaf-mute. Geoige Trask, a deaf-mute, born about 1880, is probably the son of Eugene Trask and Rebecca West 

30 MEMOIRS O F T H E NATIONAL A C A D E M Y O F SCIENCES. the reports of the American Asylum to have had " a grandfather, father, and 3 children deaf and dumb." There are other families of deaf-mutes of the same name which are obviously connected. (See F i g . 7.) The Ouat family, of Illinois.—Two members of this family entered the Illinois Institution in 1859 and 1862. I t was recorded of them m the 1882 report that there had been deafness in the family for five generations. No particulars, however, are given. O Indicates a hearing person O Indicates a deaf nrnte = Indicates marriogo Sjoaqland, ' JToagland, iLexmgtonJraneli] lOallUm Co Bratieh) Reea 0 0 £launt, (Wo information coneermng tho descendants^ '' (JRi information coiutntiaq the OetcendoMt.) 0 Fio 2 —The Hoaglnnd family of Kentucky The Ho'agland family, of Kentucly (Fig. 2.)—This is one of the most remarkable of the deaf mute families of America. I n the above diagram I have attempted to show the family connections so far aa they are known to me. In 1853 this family was stated to consist of a father, himself deaf and dumb, with 7 deaf mute children. He had 2 deaf-mute nephews, one of whom was married and had two deaf-mute children. He also had a hearing S'ster who had two deaf-mute sons, one of whom had 3 children, all deaf mutes.* The principal of the Kentucky Institution has kindly furnished me with the following addi- tional particulars concerning this family. He says. '•In 1822 two brothers, Thomas and William Hoagland, entered our institution. Thomas never married, but William married a deaf mute. He had a son and two daughters, all of whom were mutes and married mutes. Jesse, the son, has five children,' all of whom can hear. Mrs. Blount, the eldest d.iughter, has one son, a mute; Clara, the other daughter, is childless. This may be called the Lexington branch, as their home was there. Another, the Gallatin County branch, contained seven deaf mutes. I n another branch, the Reeds, the fatlier and his three children are mutes. Only a part of all these mutes have been at school, and it is diflBcult to trace n the scanty records the exact relationship between the different branches." The Adkms family, of Kentucky.—This family was stated in 1853 to contain nine deaf-mutes.t The Grisson famili/, of Kentucky.—I am indebted to the principal of the Kentucky Institution for the following very instructive particulars concerning this l a m i l y "There were three or four deaf-mute .brothers and sisters of this family who were pupils hero (Kentucky Institution) about the year 1828; one of them, William, married a deaf mute lady and * American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb, vol vi, p 255 t American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb, vol vi, p 25b 

T H E FORMATION OF A D E A F V A R I E T Y OF T H E HUMAN RACE. 31 had a numerous family, all of whom could hear. One of his sons married his cousin, also a hearing person, and all of their five children are deaf mutes." In 1870 Mr. Benjamin Talbot, then principal of the Iowa Institution, published m the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb (vol. xv, p. 118) an account of some families of deaf mutes residing in his State. One or two of the most remarkable cases may be noted which are of a particularly suggestive character. O Indicates n heanng person. 9 Indicates a deaf mute The Zurber Famdu r'>f Iowa iFather had deaf and dumb relatwes %n Indiana) 666iii 6 ^ i 6 66 (Ifb informaium eoneenany the desemdanit) FlO 3 —The Lurber family of Iowa Tiie Lurber family, of loica (Fig. 3) —"The father is a deaf-mute, without education, who came to Iowa from Indiana, where there are, or have been, several deaf-mute relatives. Of twelve / children m this family only one, and she the eighth, was born deaf. Four others, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth, have lost their hearing in whole or in part, and have been sent to school here (Iowa Institution)." O Indicates a heanng peison @ Indicates a partially deof person 6 O Indicites a deaf mnte OT Suiters 0 = Indicates marriage. 4 1&.U the brothers and 5 sisters became deccf, or hard <f heanng early in. life ^JSb xnfoTmatujn' ooncernvn^ the descendants) F I G 4 —The Huston family of Iowa The Huston family, of Iowa (Fig. 4).—" There have been ten children in this family, of whom the third and eighth lost their hearing by disease, while the sixth, ninth, and tenth were born deaf. 

32 MEMOIRS O F T H E NATIONAL A C A D E M Y O F SCIENCES. Mr. Hustou's grandmothers were sisters, and the grandfather and grandmother of this family were first consins Mr. Huston's brothers, like himself, were health^' and long lived, but, like him, they all became deaf, or at leasD haid of heauiig, comparatively e .rly in life" FuUerton^ WbrTCs iNbinformaiiow concejuuig tke\ ^ deseendanbs ' [No uiformation eoneerning tha desctndp^) 9 Indicates n deaf mnte = Indicates ranmnge F I G 5 —The FiiUerton family of Hebron, N T The FaUeiton family, of Hebron, N. Y. (Pig. 5).—Sayles Works, born 1806 (a presumed con- genital deaf mute of the Jfew York Institution), married Jane FuUerton, born 1806 (a congenital deaf-mute educated in the same institution), who had six brothers and sisters deaf and dumb. A l l of their six children were deaf and dumb. There were thus fourteen deaf-mutes in this family. I have no information concerning the descendants. O Indicates a hearing person 9 Indicates a deaf mate = Indicates marriage. (JScu-rison) {Arnold) (Wi/cko/f) (WiUiams) (7^0 inforTTurUon eoneemlnff the degeeiuUaUt) F I G G —A family indicated in the 1834 report of the Xew Yoik institution A remarkable family reported from the New York LiitUtition for the Deaf and Dumb.—The particul.irs of this family, as gleaned from the 1854 report ot the New York Institution, are shown in the above diagram (Fig. C). As the descent is in the female line, this genealogical table could not have been made had it not been for the fact that the New York report gives the names of the husbands and wives of some of the pupils. 

T H E FORMATION O F A DE-VF VAUIKTY O F T H E HUMAN E A C E 33 TIieMlenFamdy, ofBhrtfard, Me J 9=9 Eleven, other relabvvs deaf and dumb 9 9 9 9 9 9 ® 9 9 9 RFUI'CCV ALLKN, admitted to Aiiu lu.iu \syUnii in ld-'>, aged \eair8 She 18 recorded us bavui'^ "two bi-otliiis, t«o Histeis and clo\eii other relati\e3 deif and dumb," and tu have ' in luicd a deif mute " TheLmeJoylbmib/, The Levejay Family, The Lmiejoy Famib, (lfFaijBtte,Me. of Sidney, Mr ofConcard,yir O i The Lovijovs ot Now Haiupshu-o ai-e liuro grouped inth the Lovujors of Hauio, although we have iio ccitoiu evidence that they are connected The Bowe FamOy, The CurtuFamOy, s of Sew BUmeetta; Mi of Leeds, Me '5 deaf-mutta mih^ faaali/\ {7deaf-iiattt9ma-family 5 married to deaf-mutea) mametl U ieaf-mutet. The Jlojers Farmbf, The WaJcefield Family, of Freepart, Me of OarSuttTtim, {> Th« Small FanuJUj, of West BanvMt.Me (Seven relatives deaf ana dumb.) (other relatUies ) . i , , 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 6 9 , ^ 9 9 Esi HFit "SVAKI'FII I u admitted 1SJ8, aged 11 jcars, hid ' one sistei one uncle, thi-ee COUSIUH iiid othoi i-ela tives dent iiid dumb The Seiders Family, The WUUamsonFamCbf, TTie Jdek Family, of 'Wtitdo'boro.llfe. of y6rdipart,Me ofJackBojtjMe 0 6 EMMA Sl'ini'lib, ndniittul 18"i8, a^od DuKUAH JACK, mhnitted 1858, y yeai-8, had ' one sistoi, on,' binthti, ElTA J WiLUAJisON, idmitted ISTiD, aged 8 yra, had " two hrothcrs, oueimdii, onocousiii, dtiif and dumb " aged 11 years hail "two uncles and two luicles and two coiisms three cousins deaf and dumb," and she deaf and dumb " married n deaf mute F I G 7 — A group of deal mute fnmil cs fioni MaiiK 99 A—BELL 5 

34 MEMOIRS O F T H E ^TATIONAL A C A D E M Y O F S C I E N C E S . A group of deaf-mute fannhes fiom Maine.—Members of the deaf-mute families shown in Pig. 7 have been admitted into the American Asylnm at Hartford. Conn. There is no record showing any relationship between the families, but their close proximity to one another is extremely sug- gestive. The fact that there are four generations ot deaf mutes m the Lovejoy family suggests the idea that some of the other faimhes may perhaps be descended from it through the temale line. Whatever the explanation, it is at all events reinaikable that so many large deaf-mute families should have originated in small places within a few miles of one another. ' I t must not be supposed that I have attempted to give an exhsiustive list of the large deaf- mute families. I have simply given specimen cases to prove that in many different parts ot the country deafness has been transmitted by heredity. • There are many more large families known to me which are not alluded to above.