Thomas Gallaudet path in life was altered when he met Alice Cogswell, on May 25, 1814, the nine-year-old deaf daughter of a neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell.

American Deaf Education Pioneer. He is remembered for co-founding the first the first school for the deaf in North America. The son of a Revolutionary War soldier and personal secretary to US President George Washington when the Capitol was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he aspired to become a minister.

In 1802, Thomas Gallaudet entered Yale College as a sophomore and graduated in 1805 with high honors, earning his bachelor’s degree. Then, he earned his master’s degree at Yale in 1808.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was an educational philanthropist and founder of the first American school for the deaf.

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