https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-picayune-blind-deaf-man-seei/209779868/

Blind, deaf man “seeing” city with his fingertips 

Visits Vieux Carre, Finds Landmarks “Interesting“

By Ellen Middlebrook

Thirty-one-year-old Tad Chapman of Redfield, South Dakota, is taking in the sights and sounds of New Orleans with his fingertips. 

The fact that he has been blind and deaf since he was four years old has not hindered him in “seeing” the Vieux Carre, churches, libraries, and museums of the city which he finds “very interesting“.

By day, he visits historical spots with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. W. S. Chapman and by night he records all his experiences in a diary that comprises a running story of his life.

 Finds City Interesting

“New Orleans is a very interesting city,“ he said in a clearly enunciated monotone. “I enjoyed my visit to the Southern Regional Laboratory because it is a place where people are trying new experiments for the future. It was fun and a privilege.”

Tad converses easily with anyone by placing his thumb on the lips and he is the first deaf and blind person in the United States, his parents said, to learn to communicate with people through their normal speech instead of a system of spelling words with a code. 

“When he goes on a sightseeing tour he touches everything and ask questions about them“, said Mrs. J. B. Davies, 3888 Colbert, who accompanied the family on their rounds Monday. “When we visited the Cabildo, we were wondering what the date of the Battle of New Orleans was until Mrs. Chapman asked Tad and he told us.”

 Remembers Everything

“Oh yes, he remembers everything,” said Mrs. Chapman as she exhibited his diary, it was full of descriptions, names, numbers, and statistics. 

He demonstrated how he writes his notes first on his braille machine, then types them on his typewriter. He keeps busy every minute of the day – either by typing, reading, weaving attractive woolen rugs, or playing the piano. 

“The sound of music goes up my arms and sings to me more beautifully than I can sing,” he explained. His mother added that when he is at home, he plays the piano about two hours each day because it “relaxes him and he enjoys it.”

Tad lost his sight and hearing when he had cerebral meningitis at the age of four. When he recuperated, he had forgotten how to talk and his parents first communicated with him by making signs with his hands. 

 A year later, he was enrolled in the Sioux Falls South Dakota School for the Deaf, and because his father insisted, his teachers bypassed finger-spelling, and from the start taught him to understand their speech. 

Learns Words Quickly 

“I believed that if Helen Keller had learned to speak at the age of 13 that a child could learn to speak too, “Dr. Chapman explained. “It had never been tried before, but within six months Tad learned to understand some words when spoken to him and he would repeat them until he learned to do it correctly.”

Tad finished the eighth grade in Sioux Falls and graduated from high school at the Perkins Institution in Waterton, Massachusetts in 1938. He took two years of Latin and French and after graduation traveled throughout South Africa on a lecture tour to stimulate interest in the work for the deaf and blind. 

His mother, who hovers over him affectionately, constantly interpreting the events of the day, said that he started taking piano lessons when he was eight years old. 

 Taught to Play Piano

His little sister played the piano, and he begged to be taught, but his teacher, Miss Inis B. Hall, now director of a school for the blind and deaf in California, did not think his schedule could include music lessons. 

 “Then one day, Tad asked Miss Hall if it was wicked for a little blind and deaf boys to learn to play the piano, so she softened and started giving him lessons. 

Because Tad likes to travel, he and his parents are touring the country in a trailer.

A Preliminary Study of Tad Chapman - A Case of Deaf Blindness

 A preliminary study of Tad Chapman a case of deaf blindness

 by Robert H Gault 

Gault, Robert H. (Robert Harvey), 1874-1971 | Archival and Manuscript Collections

With his attendant, Miss Amanda Harmening, Tad Chapman visited my laboratory daily, morning and afternoon, from September 2 until the ninth 1931.

Tad is 16 years of age and there is no evidence he either sees or hears. Certainly, he does not hear the human voice. He has been in this condition since his fourth year of age as a result of spinal meningitis. Tad is an excellent physical specimen; he weighs over 160 pounds and is well developed. He has excellent deaf speech. He exhibits a favorable disposition and personality generally. He is mentally alert; inquisitive to the nth degree. He is a pupil in the Perkins Institute for the Blind and is doing seventh grade work.

Tad habitually picks up speech by placing his right hand over the left cheek of his companion with his thumb near the corner of the mouth. By this means, he gets sufficient sensory cues to enable him to interpret speech very satisfactorily.  On our very first meeting, he thus received what I had to say to him.

Not only so, but when I placed a 60-page pamphlet over my cheek, and with his hand on top of the pamphlet, he, although faultingly, followed the drift of what I was saying to him. He behaved likewise with his hand over one end of a paper tube, the other end of which was at the speaker's mouth. When the book and the tube are employed in the manner just indicated, Tad, of course, lacks stimulus from the gross movement of the speaker's cheek and jaw. He obtains only vibratory stimuli communicated through the solid paper or through the column of air the paper too. These are methods of reception that he practices but little. According to Miss Harmening, he had not attempted to receive speech through the tube for upwards of a year until now.

Since he succeeds as he does, even when obstructed by the book or the tube, it goes almost without saying that he should succeed likewise with the Gault-Teletactor. This is an instrument by means of which the forms of spoken language may be communicated to the tactile organs of a “listener“. It consists of a very sensitive microphone, an amplifier, which is connected with the lighting current, and a vibrator or receiver upon which the “listener” holds his fingers of his hand to feel the speaker’s voice. If the deaf and the deaf-blind can receive forms of spoken speech with such an instrument, and if they can learn to interpret speech thus, the instrument should be a very great value to people who are so handicapped. It offers an avenue through which the deaf and the deaf-blind may communicate with a speaker. But not only so (and this is very important), it presents an opportunity for such intercourse and cooperation among the deaf and deaf-blind, because the apparatus as it stands at present is capable of stimulating at one and the same time any number of persons from one up to 50; moreover, each individual has a microphone as well as his vibrator so that he can make his own voice felt upon the fingers of all his companions. 

Accordingly, I was greatly interested in and attempted to discover even a little evidence as to what Tad could accomplish without any previous training upon the Teletactor.

It is only fair to Tad to say in this connection that not only was he wholly unaccustomed to the instrument I have described, but he was evidently under a very heavy. handicap, owing to the fact that within the 24 hours preceding my meeting him, he had been transported from the rare dry atmosphere of South Dakota to the intensely hot and humid air of Evanston Illinois. During the week that Tad spent here, we were afflicted with an especially high degree of humidity, and Tad was consequently drowsy, especially in the afternoon. He repeatedly suppressed, or attempted to suppress, his yawns. On several occasions, when there was a lull in our work, he promptly fell asleep. I believe, therefore, that what he did here in the course of his visit is not a complete index as to what he would be able to do in a climatic situation to which he is adjusted.

Our first efforts were merely to make Tad acquainted with the fact that when one speaks into the microphone one can hear the voice in the vibrator of the instrument. This was accomplished through his feeling the questions: What is your name? Where do you live? Where do you go to school? first upon Miss Harmening’s cheek, and then upon the vibrator or a receiver of the Teletactor. A few minutes later, he received and understood the following questions: How do you do, Tad? How are you today? And where do you live? 

This was on the first morning of his visit. It was followed by an attempt to see whether, through the sense of touch or of vibration. There was any possibility of his learning to report the direction of a source of vibrations. For this purpose, his fingers were placed on the edge of a heavy oak table. At the other side of the table, I sat directly in front of Tad and 40 inches removed from him. With a rubber hammer, I tapped the table top, now 48 inches on my right and now 48 inches on my left: Tad having been asked to report whether the tap upon the table was upon his left or on his right. He correctly reported 21 out of 27 trials. 

On the afternoon of this first day, we tried speaking a number of sentences to him into his right hand through a stiff paper tube. The sentences employed were the following: I like warm days in the country. I had a ride with my brother. Will you go for a ride with me? Did you enjoy the ride today? Let us go now into the country. The sentences were spoken in unknown order 20 times. He correctly answered the questions or repeated the sentences 11 times which is (considering the fact that there are five sentences) a considerably better record than one could make by guessing. In the next place, we tried getting the same sentences over to Tad‘s fingers through the tube. In the course of the first trial, there were 31 utterances in unknown order. Out of the 31, he recognized 17 and responded to them correctly. He could have guessed approximately six. Later in the afternoon, 21 presentations of the same sentences yielded 14 correct responses. A chance result would have yielded approximately four correct responses.

On the following morning, we again tried the tube. The sentences we have already referred to were spoken against Tad‘s hand in unknown order – 38 impressions with 16 correct responses. A guess would have yielded approximately eight correct responses. Turning again to the Teletactor, 40 representations were made with 27 correct reactions – approximately eight might have been the record in an effort at guessing. 

It is clear enough from the foregoing, that when sentences such as were employed as stimuli, some tactual differences are at hand by which Tad can make discriminations. In this connection, it should be observed that four of our sentences have eight syllables each and one 9 syllables. Tad‘s judgment, therefore, could hardly have been based merely on a count of gross impressions – one from each syllable. Unquestionably, up to the present point, he has been depending upon a gross pattern of the sentences, including the distribution of phrases, pauses, emphases, variation in tempo, etc., all of which together in our world of speech, go a long way toward communicating meanings. 

It seemed to me, furthermore, to be desirable to discover whether Tad can react to differences in pitch. Accordingly, we produced tuning forks upon a resonating box. With his fingers upon the box, he always detected the vibration of the fork, and called it “something like music“ or “some music“. We did not discover how nicely he can distinguish between a higher and a lower pitch – that is, how far they must be apart in order that he may just be able to recognize that they are different in pitch. Furthermore, owing to the fact that one of our oscillators, which we use in experiments of this nature, was temporarily out of commission, it was impracticable to make a thoroughgoing test of this question. However, we have made an approximate finding. By means of loaded forks, and by the aid of a musically trained ear (Mr. Schott of the Northwestern School of Music) we arranged a series of forks so their pitches differ one from the other by about 4%. That is, the vibration rate of one fork is about 4% higher than one of the forks adjacent to it in the series and 4% lower than the other adjacent fork. These forks were struck by pairs, and one after another was brought before the microphone of the Teletactor. Tad with his fingers upon the receiver undertook to report which was higher and which was lower in pitch. He made the distinction when the difference was but 4%. I should say that one of my graduate students parent (Dr. Roberts) has within the last few weeks completed an intensive piece of research aiming to discover what is the least possible difference between pitches which the fingers can detect. After months of training, his normally hearing subjects were able to notice the difference between the vibrating bodies when their difference was but 2%; but Tad without training, made the discrimination when the difference was but 4%. I should say that at the beginning, Dr. Roberts' experiment, his subjects were making the distinction only when the actual difference was 10%. This makes Tad's performance all the more remarkable, and it is an intriguing question – how far below 4% he could go with a reasonable amount of training. Tad is sensitive to all notes on the standard notation scale.

In an effort to discover Tad’s ability to distinguish between differences in rhythm, Mr. Schott began by counting four beats to the measure without accent and then with accent in the middle of the measure. To this Tad responded correctly very rapidly. With this accomplished, Mr. Schott expanded the beats up to nine, first without accent and then with accent, and with each change of the counts, Tad was at first confused, but within a short time, he caught on to the rhythm and counted along with the proper time and accent, in all these cases with his fingers upon the Teletactor. 

The most remarkable recognition which Tad made was when the count was up to seven and the accented beats were changed from one and four to one and five. Tad caught this change and counted correctly within 15 seconds. And when the beats went up to nine at a high rate, he counted them with as much speed and accuracy as could the normal hearing and seeing person. 

He recognized the difference between “Yankee Doodle” and “America“ as sung through the Teletactor. He did not know what they were, of course; but he was told was what was being sung thereafter. He sang “Yankee Doodle“ with Mr. Schott, occasionally inflecting his voice along with Mr. Schott’s inflections. Whether this was due to previous training or to the stimuli he was receiving in his fingers, it is impossible to say. He was very shortly able to recognize “America“ and “Yankee Doodle“.

Tad was encouraged to recite into the microphone anything he might choose from his repertoire, while holding his fingers upon the receiver so he could feel his own voice. He recited the Lord‘s prayer, the Creed, the “Barefoot Boy“, and in addition his school pledge. Once he had got started with this sort of exercise, he turned to it repeatedly and enjoyed it very greatly. Incidentally, here is a suggestion for a use for the Teletactor, i.e., in connection with self-training by means of feeling one’s own voice; thus one may acquire a control of speech, at any rate, it will very greatly facilitate such control. 

When Tad had occupied himself for some time at reciting against his own fingers, I undertook to recite one or two of his selections, to have him feel my voice and, perhaps, to recite in unison with my voice guided by his feel of it. I chose the Lord’s Prayer, having asked him to recite aloud with me as he felt it. But when I began the recitation, he had not yet got his fingers upon the receiver. I did not notice this until I was ready to begin the phrase “hallowed be thy name”; but with the word “hallowed“ his fingers came into place and instead of his beginning with “Our Father”, he began with “hollowed”. I am unable to answer the question whether he began at this point because he recognized the word by its feel or for some other reason. But I have satisfied myself that Tad can obtain a great deal of help in relation to vocal expression through such exercises as I have had with him. Indeed, this has already been demonstrated with deaf, but seeing children. 

Finally, I was interested to discover whether Tad could locate the accented syllable in bisyllable compounds. All this is accomplished by my deaf subjects without great difficulty. As a preliminary, I explained to Tad that I would pronounce a word with two parts in it – one heavy and the other part light, I was surprised to find that his responses were no more than guesses, but when at last, I explained that one part of the word would be hard and the other part soft; that sometimes the soft part would come first, and sometimes the other part would come first, he got the idea immediately, and made an excellent record. One’s ability to make such discriminations is of very great importance in connection both with the development of good speech and with differentiation of meanings. Having established Tad‘s ability to discover the accented syllable, we were assured that he can quickly learn to detect the emphasized word in a sentence; and this is equally important both for speech and for interpretation on the Teletactor. 

On the whole Tad‘s performance here has been very illuminating. I am more than ever convinced that in the Teletactor we have an instrument that is of very great value in connection with: 

(1) the development of a language sense in the deaf-blind 

(2) the use and interpretation of spoken language 

(3) self-training by the deaf-blind 

(4) developing social intercourse among the deaf-blind through the medium of spoken language, accomplished by connecting both a receiver and a transmitter, for each of several pupils through an amplifier with the same microphone at the teacher’s desk.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/worcester-telegram-teletactor-brings-mus/209735611/

 

The South Dakota Advocate, Volume XXIII, Number IX, June 1926

Dictated transcription from page 6-7

OUTLINE OF WORK

—----

Done by Tad Chapman, Age 11, Totally Deaf and Blind since the Age of Four

—----

By Miss Margaret L. Grady

The first three months of the school year were spent in a general review of the work given since January 1921. The first new work was taken up in December, 1925.

Language – In developing language we have followed the Jones-Croker and Pratt Language and Drill Stories. He completed Book I March 12th. He then began Book II and by the end of the school year will have reached page 45.

Geography—Preparatory geography work was taken up this year–directions–location using “in the northern part of” etc. He has had besides South Dakota the maps of Minnesota and Iowa, with the important cities and rivers in each. He has learned to bound South Dakota.

Speech Reading – He reads speech the following ways: 

First: By putting his right hand on the lips of the speaker, 

Second: By putting his right hand on the face on the side of the face, 

Third: Putting his thumb on the chin of the speaker, 

Fourth: Putting his hand on the top of the speaker's head, 

Fifth: Putting his hand on the back of the head, 

Sixth: He can understand a whispered conversation.

He does equally as well by the second position as by the first. He answers questions asked by two people at the same time. He usually responds first to the person on the right, as his right hand is more sensitive to vibration than the left.

Braille – All his lip reading and drill stories are written in braille. He is able to read them readily, gets the thought and can answer the questions in an intelligent manner after he has read the story.

Typewriting – An ordinary portable Remington is used for his typewriting. The touch system is used as nearly as possible on this machine. His typewriting exercises are outlined so as to conform with his language.

Arithmetic – He counts by 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, f5’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, 9’s, 10’s, 11’s, and 12’s. Has learned the multiplication tables from 2’s to 12’s inclusive. Has learned “carrying“ in addition. He also has oral problems in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. 

Tad has missed only one day on account of illness this year. I have found him to be a most attractive child in every way. He is very fond of his school work and greatly enjoyed his association with both the pupils and teachers this year.

~~~~~

Image taken from back inside cover of the South Dakota Advocate.

Note:

E.S. Tillinghast is the Supervisor of the Literary Department.  Miss Sophia Alcorn is a Supervising Teacher in the Literary Department. Margaret Grady is a teacher in the Deaf Blind section. Amanda Harmening is the Deaf Blind Supervisor.  [Alice E. Chapman was not related to Tad Chapman.]

A letter from Tad to his Little Sister

​ Tomkins Cottage

Watertown, Mass.

November, I, 193I.

Dear Janet:

I was so pleased that you wrote me such a nice letter, and I love you very, very much for it. You must write me another letter soon.

I am sorry that Tom is a very bad boy because he did not pass. If he does not finish his school next June, he will have to go to school all summer.

I enjoy Miss Hall very much this year. What is your teacher’s name? Please takl [ask] Tom what is his teacher's name?

I was sorry to hear that you were sick on your birthday. I am not feeling very well today, I have a bad cold. because I did not wear my over coat yesterday. The weather is getting colder every day.

What is mother doing? Are you helping mother to set the table and wash the dishes like I did? I hope so. Because mother has to work very hard for us. And we should help her.

With love, your brother

Winthrop

[Note: Tad helped set the table and wash the dishes after he became deafblind. Mom would tell a story about trying to sneak a dish back into the sink to be washed again because some dirt had been missed and Tad would catch her.]

[Note: Janet would have been 8 when she received this letter.]

Newspaper Articles about Tad Chapman on Newspapers.com (does not include international)This is a partial list.

My Mother writes about her family in August 1971

Dr. and Mrs. Winthrop Chapman

      Dr. Winthrop S. Chapman [father of Tad Chapman] died at the age of [82?] on September 14, 1965.  I remember Dad as a quiet, kind man, yet capable of a twinkle in his eye. He was best able to communicate about two main subjects – the wisdom of saving, and the stock market. His conversation was not frivolous. His keeping of records was detailed and complete.

      I better understand Dad after my summer’s efforts organizing pictures and newspaper articles about Tad, and a brief scanning of the many letters. (A fat folder for each year since 1917).

      He was a talented young doctor with opportunities of prestige ahead. This changed after Tad’s illness. He refused opportunities for big city success as physician.

      In my scanning, I found that he dealt successfully with many obstacles. No wonder he became an introspective, single-purposed man. Suddenly he had a deaf-blind child. Mother told me they had never seen a blind child before. The first problem was understanding such a handicap. Next came Dad’s desire to find some way to enable Tad to communicate with the world and retain his speech. Their early unskilled efforts with Tad, finding someone – anyone – that believed as they did, then finding a teacher who could teach Tad as they believed. Next came finding out the laws of the state, and problem of getting Tad admitted into a school. (School for the Deaf at Sioux Falls, South Dakota) After that step, money had to be appropriated by the State Legislature for a special teacher. Later selecting and being admitted in a school for the blind (Perkins Institution for the Blind.) The Depression came immediately after this which presented greater financial problems and burdens. There were also problems of school administration (Sioux Falls), and the desire to exploit Tad (Perkins), etc. It would seem that Dad only solved one obstacle to meet another. So many of us would have been defeated.

      Mother gave of herself physically – the house, Tom and myself, communication with Tad, preparation of things for Tad to do, and her wit. Dad gave his determination, his meeting obstacles and solving them, his projection into the future. “When I am gone, I want Tad ….” It was fortunate that Tad had such a combination of parents.



Amanda and Tad in 1969

      There is one more very important person, Amanda Harmening. Amanda is still with Tad and us [until her death in 1973]. Without her devotion, neither my parents, nor Tad, could have achieved so much. We love her dearly, and are eternally grateful and indebted to her. She is one of our family.

      Someday I hope to condense the files and compile an unprofessional but meaningful record. There are many wonderful people who helped – from all over the United States and the world. Included should be the effects on Tom, myself, his wife and my husband and our children. Tad has not known fame as others have; yet he and our parents truly “opened a door” in history and education.

 

From right to left: Janet Chapman Beavis, Tad Chapman, and Adrian Fickes
 

 

New Purpose

New Purpose

 

When I started this blog I thought it would be a way to tell Tad’s story without writing a book. I have learned from my experience and now understand a blog does not lend itself to linear story-telling.  I have now retired and enough time has passed for me to relax, refresh, and rededicate myself to telling Tad’s story in a book. The first step is to read ALL the source material which may take considerable time. I will post some material to this blog so it can be available to the public. I also plan on providing links to resources and other helpful information when possible. Posts will continue to be irregular.

I want to thank anyone who has chosen to follow my blog or even just visited. You have encouraged me no end. I have been talking about Tad all my life and it’s amazing the number of people who just don’t “get it”, who don’t seem to understand what an achievement it is for anyone to overcome deaf-blindness. People who are deaf and blind are like Helen Keller in one thing only – their deaf-blindness. There are as many ways of living with that disability as there are ways of being “normal”. There were assumptions about what anyone who was disabled could and could not do that persisted until they were challenged by other pathfinders. For me, Tad’s story is important because he did not live his life just like Helen Keller – he lived it like Tad Chapman. If you know someone who is living with deaf-blindness I hope they also have the opportunity to find their own path, their own normal.

A few thoughts - or maybe just justifications for bad behavior

I've been feeling badly that I haven't updated this recently. I have been challenged this year by depression and health issues. I'm about 1 year away from being eligible to retire from my current job with a local government agency. Although nobody else has a job, my workload gets bigger and bigger, the agency pushes us harder and harder and, face it, I'm not getting younger so I don't have as much energy to use to get through the day. When I got to this stage of Tad's story I pictured myself going thru all the material and presenting conclusive arguments proving my opinion that Tad's experiences and the publicity in the newspapers at that time were germinal to the Americans With Disabilities Act. My grandfather made the State of South Dakota pay for Tad's education by appearing before the legislators and proving Tad was capable of learning; therefore, according to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, the State had to provide him with an education. I have books with my grandfather's notes in the margins that date from that time. [These have been donated to Perkins Institute's Archive.] My grandfather was the son of a newspaper publisher and knew that the way to keep the funding was to publicize my uncle's accomplishments as a result of that education so there are many newspaper articles that I plan to scan and publish. Some of these have had the name of the newspaper &/or the date cut off, so I have not been able to use them as citations for Wikipedia so that I can correct the Wikipedia entry about Tadoma, but I still hope to properly attribute them at some point.
My head started saying, "Who are you to do this? No one will pay any mind. What does it matter?" I have given considerable thought to how to pick myself up and begin to write again. I have decided the best way forward is to return to my original plan - let the material speak for itself. I will scan &/or transcribe and then post what I have. Those that are interested can read what they wish and I'll leave any conclusions or results up to the strength of the material and to God. Give me time - retirement is coming and my depression is lifting.

A Word from my Grandmother Jessie

An undated excerpt from a speech or letter by my grandmother and typed by my mother, Janet Chapman Beavis. My grandfather did most of the letter-writing and, based on later examples, my grandmother did the speeches which is why I guessed that this might have been a speech. (Copied from something in Mother’s [Grandmother Jessie Chapman] handwriting)

At the age of 4 Tad, an exceptionally fine boy physically, had spinal Meningitis which left him after months in the hospital both deaf and blind.  By the time he was well enough to be up and about he had lost all memory of speech. Even those most familiar words “Mother” and “Daddy”.  Our problem then was to re-adjust this little boy to his new world – dark and silent.  At first he couldn’t bear to be left alone.  He must feel some one of us near him. He would play contentedly with his toy with is foot touching one of ours. We made a great effort to keep his thoughts happy and active and to include him in all the family interests – preparing vegetables, new pets, fishing, even hunting. One of my most vivid pictures is that of his father rabbit hunting with him. He would shoot with Tad near enough to feel the report of the gun and smell the powder and then trudge down the furrows to get their game which Tad would tug at, feeling he was doing his part in this great adventure that all boys love.  Then they would bring home their game and dress it – Tad’s inquisitive little fingers following every move. Then he would follow it to the stove and see it thru every step until it was served. Never a mighty hunter sat himself down to a feast with greater satisfaction. I am telling you this to show how we kept him interested and happy, for Tad’s happy sweet disposition is unusual.

When he grew strong enough we were faced with the problem of his education. We read and corresponded with people on the subject of the deaf-blind and found there were no schools, nor any given method of educating this type of child. There are schools for the deaf and schools for the blind, but on visiting these institutions found them almost unwilling to assume the responsibility of so great a task. There are, or were then, two methods of educating the deaf, over which educators of the deaf were at war – the oral and the manual methods of teaching.

This divide between the oral and manual methods of communication and teaching still remains.  There are arguments over the advantages and disadvantages of each.  Those who prefer signing argue it is a more natural method of communication for those who are completely deaf. Those who argue that the oral method is preferable say that this method makes it possible to participate in conversations with hearing people. It doesn't seem to be a simple choice such as whether an immigrant family should talk only in English around the children or also use their native language. I am not an expert in these questions and it seems to me each family should consider the natural preferences and experiences of the child.

On another topic I'm still trying to read my grandfather's mind based on the books and other material he had obtained that are dated 1900 or 1904 which I'm guessing were materials he used to convince the state legislature of South Dakota that Tad was entitled to an education paid for by the State.  Some of this material has notes in his handwriting in the margins.  In my opinion the fact that the State took this action was a clear precedent for the Americans With Disabilities Act which came many years later.  But I need to pull together the information and it is taking me awhile. I'm not a historian. I dropped out of college - yes, it was a top-notch college - but nonetheless I did not graduate. In my senior year I would have had to do a thesis. The work I'm doing here may be my way of mending that bad choice.  I thought at the time I needed to take care of my mother because my step-dad had been put into a coma by a drunk driver and my mother had a long history of deep depression. It was the biggest mistake I ever made and remains my deepest regret (and that covers a lot of territory). I am determined but frequently get overwhelmed - plus working full time does not often find me with a lot of energy in the evenings. If you're one of my friends from Facebook I will continue to post there when I update here. 

This week's update - 8/8/10

I've shared letters showing the early days when my grandfather and grandmother were first figuring out what to do once it looked like Tad would live. At this point I've decided to summarize my grandfather's search for help instead of posting each letter he wrote. The letters are pretty much the same as well as the responses he got. Most refer him either to Perkins Institute or to Helen Keller's book. I believe there is a response from Perkins and I will post that when I find it. I have most of the letters in archival sleeves in notebooks, but some letters have been taken out for one reason or another and then put back too quickly. The newspaper articles have been laminated by my mother and placed in a homemade scrapbook and in some cases the date or newspaper name was removed. In order to move ahead at this point I need to take some time to review and summarize from both the letters, clippings, and marginal notes in the books my grandfather used to make his argument to the State Legislature. [These have been donated to the Perkins Institute Archive.]

The House that Jessie Built

                                    Meeker – Chapman

Friends in this city have received announcements of the marriage in Chicago of Miss Jessie Alice Meeker to Dr. Winthrop Chapman.  Miss Meeker was the efficient nurse who took care of Representative Weiser during his recent attack of typhoid fever.

Miss Meeker is a charming young woman and all who knew her will wish her happiness.  The marriage took place June 8 and Dr. and Mrs. Chapman will be home in Raymond South Dakota after July 20.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My grandmother, Jessie Alice Meeker, died on my fourth birthday, so I did not have many memories of her.  My clearest memory is of snuggling up to her in her hospital bed in the dining room to watch the Ice Capades on television. (The bed had been put there so she would not have to climb the stairs to the bedrooms.) I probably remember this because it was rare that I got to climb into her hospital bed as she suffered from a heart condition. I was also impressed because she told my father to “shush” and allow me to stay up late for once.  Wow, someone who could tell my father what to do!

Otherwise, my grandmother was a legend to me.  I heard about how she got disowned by her family THREE times, once for appearing onstage in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado (she was one of the three little maids from school). Another time she was disowned for daring to attend nursing school (something that a genteel lady of good breeding did not do). The last time was for marrying my grandfather (he wasn’t good enough for her according to her family). 

My grandparents’ romance must have been grand.  They met while he was interning at Chicago’s Lying-in Hospital and she was a nurse.  The nurses were cloistered on the top floor of the hospital in which they worked and my grandparents would rendezvous on the back stairs.  I guess the reason her family thought he wasn’t good enough for her was because his father was just a newspaper editor in the small town of St. James, Minnesota.  In contrast, she was from an old, influential family.  I was told she received some fame for nursing a senator through typhus and was written up in the newspaper for having done so and that this connection was the source of my grandfather’s idea to go before the South Dakota State Legislature to get them to provide an education for Tad.

I have found the newspaper clipping (transcribed below), but it does not say the politician was a senator, rather that he was a representative. I have not been able to find the politician’s complete name or even which state he represented.  The clipping has had the name of the newspaper trimmed off of it and the city is not named. I know that my grandparents lived in Bismark, North Dakota briefly when their sons Tom and Tad were young (before Tad’s 4^th birthday). I Googled “Weiser” and “Representative Weiser” turns out there was an influential Weiser in North Dakota during the approximate time period. Considering my uncle Tad was born in 1915 and his brother Tom was two years older than Tad, I’m guessing they got married between 1910 and 1913. Considering I was told by my mother that my grandmother said that all it took for her to get pregnant was to hang her panties up next to my grandfather’s pants, my best guess for their marriage is 1912.  I have not been able to find a Representative Weiser in the early 1900s that could have been nursed by my grandmother. However, whoever he is he did my family a great service by suggesting they use the State Constitution of South Dakoka’s clause to provide for Tad’s education. 

Some things in life seem like the children’s story “The House that Jack Built” – bit by bit, one thing leads to another and they don’t seem directly connected to the final result and yet it takes all the parts to reach that final result. If my grandmother had not been headstrong and insisted on becoming a nurse, and if she hadn’t nursed the Representative, and if she hadn’t married a doctor who also happened to be the son of a newspaperman would they have been able to cope with Tad’s illness and the results of that illness in the same way and with the same success?

August 26, 1919? (Still looking for help)

August 26, 1919?                                            

722 Second Avenue South

Minneapolis Minnesota

Dear Miss Marsh,

Our little boy continues to gain in strength and will be able to walk soon.  He sits up alone now and can stand by holding to something but gets tired very soon.  He is just crazy to get around and feel and investigate everything, and as he cannot yet walk it keeps us busy.  He knows all his old toys and knows that he is home.  We sit him at the table now and let him feed himself and he does better than most normal children.

We simply don’t have the time to teach him as we should for I must be at the office and Mrs. Chapman has no help and it keeps her humping.  But we have a few signs taught him.  And we talk so much to him by placing his hand to our face or by placing our face next to his.  One day he put one of his hands to his own throat and the other to my throat and told me that “Noise goes right down there”.  And I have got him so that I will say “Boo” and he will repeat it after me, having one of his hands on my throat and the other on his own.  But he gets tired so quickly and is so interested in other things that only once in a while can we get him interested in what we try to do.

He is such a good boy all the time and talks almost as much as he ever did, of which we are very thankful.  And he seems happy and contented and that of course makes it easier for us. 

We don’t know yet what we can do about a teacher for him.  I have got to get squared away better from the big financial drain of the past three months* before I can do much, and that will be a couple more months before I can feel that I can stand the expense.  He is going to learn very fast.

With very best wishes from us both I am sincerely, Winthrop S. Chapman

*By financial drain my grandfather was a doctor and for three months he was totally focused on trying to save his child's life.  In addition, I have found more information. Tad became sick in May 1919 while in Watertown, South Dakota, and was taken to the hospital in Minneapolis and brought back to Redfield in August 1919 when these letters start. That's a lot of hospital bills plus money they would have spent to stay in town near him. They also would have had to make arrangements for Tom who was two years older (aged 6). - JB

Aug 21, 1919-Another letter to Lila Chapman

August 21^st 1919

Dear Mother,

Tad sits up alone in his little chair before his little table and we have begun to let him feed himself.  He gets along much better than most normal kids, no mussing things up, but he does stick a finger in now and then to locate things.  [kept doing that all his life from time to time-JB]  Tickled to be able to feed himself.  He insists on standing up with our help but cannot hardly hold himself on one foot while he pushes the other ahead.  But in a few days he will be walking.  He is just crazy to get around and feel things and when Jess let him feel the sideboard he said right away “Oh, brand new one”  Now who in thunder would think he would know that.  And yesterday we had him dressed for the first time while we took him down for a haircut and before we got home he wanted a drink and I took him into the drug store and got him one, and while there he felt of the marble top to the soda fountain and immediately wanted a soda, he knew that he was in the soda shop. 

He talks a good deal, some say more than he ever did before and that he talks plainer.  And when he thinks that possibly we don’t understand him he takes our hand and places it to his face and then talks and if we then place our face to his and answer he seems more satisfied.  I just left him playing with his bunnie rabbits and talking with them or rather to them and thoroughly enjoying himself.

I don’t know how we are going to discipline him, we have not the heart to spank him and we try to get for him everything he asks for and that is not much for it is just eats or some toy or candy or auto ride, but when he asks for something that we have not got and there is no way to tell him he just keeps on asking and asking until the tears come.  No whining only that hurt tone and we cannot stand it.  But before we are done he is going to be badly spoiled and we don’t know what we can do about it.

[Dr. Winthrop S. Chapman]

August 15, 1919 - more progress

August 15^th 1919

[Dear Mother.]

Tad continues to get stronger very fast.  He holds himself together when we carry him now and sits up in the chair nicely and even tries a little to help with his feet when we pick him up.  For the past three days he has had a good deal to say about “I can’t see”.  He will try to look at his hands or at a paper or book.  Does not complain or worry or fuss over it but just states it as a fact.  He is still just as good as can be and plays and pretends and talks quite a little.  Yesterday he had one hand on my throat and one on his own and we were talking or rather I was making sounds that I wanted him to imitate and he told me “Noise goes right down there” feeling of his throat then of mine.  His life is too full of other things just yet for him to want to get bothered much yet.

[Dr. Winthrop S. Chapman]

[When he says Tad holds himself together when they carry them it makes me realize how very sick and very weak Tad was. Just think how a child who is awake holds himself and how different it is to hold a child who is asleep. - JB]

August 1919 Letters Found

When I was trying to figure out where I left off so that I could recreate the broken links I found letters that I had previously transcribed. I have decided that I will transcribe letters even if I scan them and post the images so that if the link breaks it will be easier to recreate the link, I find this letter interesting because it shows my grandparents beginning to hope again even though Tad was still so weak he hardly could stand on his own. - Jane

August 13^th 1919

Dear Mother,

Speaking about how slow a process it will be to teach Tad just listen to this and then think how fast a process it will be.  When he got home [from the hospital?] Jess had two things taught to him, one was by placing his hand on her face and then smiling he got it and would smile back.  And when he had his cracker or bread all eaten up and wished to signify that it was all gone he would show his hands empty palms out, so Jess to show him that there was no more to give him would hold his hands up then place hers against his palm to palm.  He got it, and would then quit asking.  Since he got home we have gotten him to imitate us in several ways.  In feeding himself he would take his own spoon and fill it and then I would get it shipshape and to indicate to him that it was ready I would tap twice on his spoon.  He would wait until I tapped twice after he got the idea.  The other day he was playing with his pennies and started to count 1,2,3,4,8,16,18, etc.  I got him to count them into my hand then I counted them back into his hand placing our cheeks close together.  I would count then he would count.  He knew what I was saying and thot [sic] it great sport. 

Yesterday he was singing at the top of his voice and all of a sudden told his mother “You say ‘Don’t make so much noise”  Jess placed his hand to her cheek and said it but that was not satisfactory so he pulled her face down next to his, and she said it,  he said “All right” and laughed and thot that a good one.  They did that back and forth a good half dozen times until he was tired.  He fully understood what she said.

Today while he was siting on my lap all of a sudden he placed his hand on his throat and started to say “You-  then repeated “You” over a couple times then of his own accord he placed his hand on my throat and I said “you” and he would place his hand from his throat while he said it to my throat while I said it.  He understood that we were both saying the same word and that it was “You”.  By the time he is able to walk he will not only be ready for teaching but will have a good start. He is a happy little boy and just as patient and good as can be.  Only once in a while he gets night and day mixed and then we have our troubles.  I tell you what our policy of always being on the job and giving him what he asked for and or  [illegible].  He has got the idea and is ready to be given various articles and taught their name.  He is still to weak to want to bother much or long at a time. 

What we need now is to know the proper way to hold our hands or his hands to our throat(s).  Also our own speak [sic] must be developed so that the lip, nasal, and throat sounds are accentuated. 

And darned if Tad is not all ready for it.

He sits up in the chair and holds his head better, and yesterday he turned over on the bed and tried to get up on his hands and knees but could hardly make it.  And now when I lift him he tries to put a little push into his legs.

Yesterday I gave him a toy areoplane [sic] a tin one about 5 inches across.  Now he has never seen such a toy and the only Arieoplanes [sic] he has ever seen have been those of the Flying circus, but after he had felt that one over he asked “How do Areoplane [sic] go?”  I never had the least idea that he would know what it was. 

His brains are working.

He knows that he is home.  Knows his toys and is thoroughly enjoying himself.  Tho some days wants a good deal of attention, otherwise he seems contented and happy.

This morning he told me “I cant see”

 [Dr. Winthrop S Chapman]

More from Sept 1919

More learning - Now that I'm using a URL you can click on the image to get a larger view or see the whole image. (Didn't know it would do that, yet another learning experience.) Then just click your backspace to go back to the blog.- JB  

[Yet again a referral to Helen Keller but Helen Keller was the daughter of a rich man who could afford to hire a private teacher for his daughter. -JB] 

BROKEN LINK - WILL TRY TO REPAIR

 [Tad was terrified that he could not see but since he was deaf no one could explain it to him.- JB]

[The above is from the Jackson School - I don't know any further information about them, but they did provide another lead that Grandfather could follow up. It would seem that Grandfather was contacting anyone he could and using whatever connections he had to find some help. They lived in Redfield SD which is still a small farming town, but it's the County seat. As in all small towns they didn't need a newspaper to get the news. As my mother used to say, "They know if you've brushed your teeth, and if you haven't they know why not."- JB]

[This letter dated 9/1/1919 was enclosed with the letter from the Jackson School.  Note he wrote on the bottom when he responded which must have been the same day since it came with the Jackson letter which was dated 9/21/19.
- JB  One more letter follows this one. I'm learning to put text in between images and I now see that I should crop at the bottom of the letters to avoid blank space. More learning! But I now know how to find and use an image URL.  - JB]

 BROKEN LINK - WILL TRY TO REPAIR (AUG 2015)

[For once somebody didn't refer him to Helen Keller. - JB]