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Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell

Dr. Mason Cogswell was born in Canterbury, Connecticut on September 28, Because his mother died young that Samuel Huntington adopted him. Samuel Huntington was the President of the Continental Congress and Governor of Connecticut. Childhood

Medical Accomplishments Samuel sent him to Yale. He graduated in 1780 as Valedictorian and as the youngest member of his class. Under instruction of his brother, Dr. James Cogswell, Mason received medical training at Soldiers Hospital in New York City. In 1803, Mason was the first, in the United States, to successfully remove a cataract from the eye.

Medical Accomplishments Mason also was the first to tie the carotid artery in He became one of the most distinguished surgeons in the country. Mason was one of the founders of the Connecticut retreat for the insane at Hartford. For ten years, he was the president of the Connecticut medical society.

Family Life He married Mary Austin Ledyard, and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. They had one son and one daughter. His daughter, Alice, became deaf and dumb from cerebra-spinal meningitis at the age of 2. She lost her speech and hearing. Her father's attention was called to the possibility of educating deaf-mutes. He was determined that his daughter would overcome her handicap, and he had the intelligence, love, and wealth needed to assist her.

Acquaintances Mason was fortunate to be the neighbor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. Thomas Gallaudet was studying to be a minister and devised a sign language in which each word was spelled out letter by letter. Cogswell convinced Gallaudet to go over to Europe, because Mason knew that France led the world in education of the deaf. Thomas studied the work of Laurent Clerc, and Abbe De LEpee

Progress Towards ASD While Gallaudet was in Europe, Cogswell was trying to create a school in Hartford for the Deaf. Cogswell took a census that showed: –84 Deaf in Connecticut –400 in New England –2000 in the whole U.S. On August 22, 1816, Gallaudet returned to America with Laurent Clerc.

Traveling with Purpose Between October 1816 and April 1817, Clerc, Gallaudet, and Dr. Cogswell traveled to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and other places. Between October 1816 and April 1817, Clerc, Gallaudet, and Dr. Cogswell traveled to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and other places. They were delivering speeches and demonstrations of teaching methods for support across the spectrum. They were delivering speeches and demonstrations of teaching methods for support across the spectrum.

Preparation for ASD The three men raised around $12,000 from public support. To show support, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to give $5,000 for the school. This was the first appropriation ever for the education of handicapped people.

ASD is Created On April 15, 1817, seven students, including Alice Cogswell, attended school in rented rooms. This school was called The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. It is now referred to as The American for the Deaf. It is now referred to as The American School for the Deaf. Attendance increased quickly. By 1818, 40 students attended the school, more than 100 by 1822, and more than 200 by 1824.

The End Cogswell continued to write and lecture on behalf of the Deaf until he died in Hartford on December 10, Also buried with Mason is Alice Cogswell. She died 13 days after he did.

Works Cited houette-thumb dumb%20person/ ages/bystate/Connecticut/East%20H artford/slides/Goodwin_School_Hous e_c1761.jpg org/history/hartford_history.pdf

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dia/ct1818_1865/amschooldeaf. htm b.com/~dav4is/people/HNTN336. htm onfitchcogswell/

Literacy?MSSDLRC/clerc ocs/691.htm Irvine, Paul. (1985) Mason Fitch Cogswell. Journal of Special Education. Vol. 19 Issue 3.