Hearing with the Eye: The Rise of Deaf Education in the United States
The Bollings
John Braidwood
The Cobbs School
The Demise of the Cobbs School
It has been contended that Thomas Bolling was the first formally educated deaf individual in America
For fourteen years, Bolling's debt to Braidwood remained unpaid. This issue had to be settled in court when Braidwood brought suit from England
Thomas Bolling (Father) had a surrogate in Edinburgh named John Hyndman, who supervised affairs for him...
William Bolling was the final offspring of Thomas and Elizabeth
John Bolling (Second child) first to be sent abroad when he became old enough (10)
Braidwood's presence and intentions received favorable notice in the nation's capital from the National Intelligencer
Both Braidwood and Bolling were the first who attempted to create a system of education for deaf children in the US
Desired to establish an "Institution for the Education for the Deaf and Dumb under the sanction of the President and Congress of the United States."
John Braidwood, marketed the family secrets for his own personal financial benefit
He received his first opportunity to lead an educational institution in 1810
March 1815, Braidwood began his school at Cobbs with an enrollment of 5 students
In attendance was Thomas Bolling Jr., William Albert's deaf uncle
Germination for the idea of locating the first American school for the deaf children at Cobbs had been planted
Braidwood felt that the good intentions demonstrated by his decision to reside in Bolling's immediate neighborhood for some years would aid his sullied reputation
School's collapse may also have been related to Bolling's lack of financial resources to continue it
Cobbs closed in the fall of 1816
Braidwood left the school in 1816
1817, Bolling desperate for some way to educate his deaf children, rescued Braidwood once more and teamed him with a minister, John Kirkpatrick
Lack of continuous contact with other adults probably distressed Braidwood
Radically Different Fates of Two Schools
Religious revivals swept both North and South by the early 19th century
Braidwood's insatiable thirst for financial comfort led him to one of Virginia's premier families
The Southern economy was essentially agrarian
The North and the South diverged significantly in social, political, and economic matters