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206GALLAUDET, THOMASA pathbreaking minister to the hearing-impaired, Thomas Gallaudet was theoldest child of Sophia Fowler Gallaudet and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a Congregationalclergyman who founded the first free school for the deaf in the UnitedStates. Young Thomas learned to communicate with the hearing-impaired throughinteraction both with his mother, who was deaf, and with playmates who attendedhis father’s school. As a student at Washington College, an Episcopal institutionin Hartford, Connecticut, he became interested in entering the ordained ministry.Having doubts about the validity of Congregational orders, however, he chosenot to follow in his father’s footsteps but sought ordination as an Episcopalianinstead. He was eventually ordained to the diaconate in 1850 and to the priesthoodin 1851.Gallaudet’s work as a missionary to the deaf began in the early 1850s whenhe ministered to a hearing-impaired student, Cornelia Lathrop, who was slowlydying of tuberculosis. This experience prompted him to consider how much morechurches could do in that pastoral area. Because of its fixed liturgy, Gallaudetbelieved that his denomination was particularly well suited for ministry with thehearing-impaired community. Thus, in 1852 he established the first Episcopalmission devoted to the hearing-impaired: St. Ann’s Church for Deaf-Mutes inNew York City—a parish with which he was associated for the rest of his life.Over the next 40 years he also served as a traveling missionary, establishingcongregations for the deaf in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C.,and Albany, N.Y. In 1885 he founded the Gallaudet Home for the Aged and InfirmDeaf in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.Gallaudet played a leading role in awaking Episcopalians to the importance ofministry among the hearing-impaired. Through his efforts, the Episcopal Churchbecame a major participant in this work, especially in the provision of signlanguageworship. Believing that the leadership of signing congregations shouldstem largely from the deaf themselves, Gallaudet had a significant impact on thelife and career of Henry Winter Syle (1846–90). A hearing-impaired man whohad been active at St. Ann’s Church, Syle was encouraged by Gallaudet to preparefor the ordained ministry. After his ordination, Syle led the way in the constructionof the first Episcopal church built specifically for the hearing-impaired: All Souls’Church for the Deaf, established in Philadelphia in 1888. Gallaudet’s youngerbrother, Edward Miner Gallaudet, also opened a school for deaf-mutes in Washington,D.C., the upper branch of which became Gallaudet University. By 1930this institution had graduated 21 of the 24 hearing-impaired men who had beenordained as Episcopal clergy.Gallaudet died in New York City in 1902.BibliographyA. “A Sketch of My Life,” unpublished autobiographical manuscript in the archives ofGallaudet University, Washington, D.C.B. ANB 8, 644–45; BB, 86–88; DAB 7, 110–11; EDC, 509; HEC, 182–83; Amos G. Draper,