"A valuable contribution to Deaf Studies and other fields, The People of the Eye will certainly improve our understanding of humanity." -Yerker Andersson, President Emeritus, World Federation of the Deaf "A wonderful contribution that certainly makes a convincing case for Deaf ethnicity." -Dennis Cokely, Director, American Sign Language Program; Director, World Languages Center, and Professor and Chair, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Northeastern University "Outright fascinating." -Richard Eckert, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Richland "Elegant prose, meticulous research, and well-aimed quotes make a convincing case for ethnicity. I especially enjoyed the spirited debate in the 'Yes, But' section, which had me on the edge of my seat. The historical portrait of early Deaf American life, which the authors painted so vividly, is sure to inform and inspire many generations to come." -Anna Mindess, Interpreter Educator, and author of Reading Between the Signs: Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters "The genealogical work in this book is groundbreaking. It goes beyond elite-driven histories and shows a dense web of interconnections among grassroots Deaf people. This book fundamentally alters our understanding of the origins of the American Deaf community." -Joseph Murray, Assistant Professor, Department of Deaf Studies, Gallaudet University Series Editors Marc Marschark Patricia Elizabeth Spencer A Lens on Deaf Identities Irene W. Leigh The World of Deaf Infants: A Longitudinal Study Kathryn P. Meadow-Orlans, Patricia Elizabeth Spencer, and Lynn Sanford Koester Sign Language Interpreting and Interpreter Education: Directions for Research and Practice Edited by Marc Marschark, Rico Peterson, and Elizabeth A. Winston Advances in the Sign Language Development of Deaf Children Edited by Brenda Schick, Marc Marschark, and Patricia Elizabeth Spencer Advances in the Spoken Language Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children Edited by Patricia Elizabeth Spencer and Marc Marschark The Gestural Origin of Language David F. Armstrong and Sherman E. Wilcox Deaf Cognition: Foundations and Outcomes Edited by Marc Marschark and Peter C. Hauser The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, and Ulf Hedberg Harlan Lane Richard C. Pillard Ulf Hedberg On the nature of the Deaf: "The deaf are ... first, last, and all the time the people of the eye." -George Veditz (President, National Association of the Deaf, 1861-1937). Ninth Convention of the National Association of the Deaf and Third World's Congress of the Deaf, 1910. Philadelphia: Philocophus Press, 1912. p. 30. On sign language and the Deaf: "The topic that concerns you, gentlemen, rather than an ordinary medical issue is, above all, a lofty question of humanity and civilization which requires deep reflection, not only by doctors but by teachers, philosophers and scholars." -Ferdinand Berthier (French Deaf leader and educator, 18031886). Observations sur la mimique consideree dons ses rapports avec 1'enseignement des sourds-muets. A M. le President et a Messieurs les Membres de I'Academie Imperiale de Medecine. Paris: Martinet, 1853. (transl. H. Lane) List of Illustrations xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Part I: Ethnicity and the Deaf-World 1. Cultural Cohesive Forces Language Bonding to One's Kind Cultural Rules and Values Social Institutions The Language Arts The Visual Arts History Ethnic Territory Kinship Ancestry in the Deaf-World Socialization 2. Ethnic Boundaries Outside Forces Inside Forces Multiethnicity Summary 3. Yes, But On Assimilation On Deaf Bodies On Socialization On Other Challenges to Deaf Ethnicity On Scholarly Recognition On Disability On Deaf Diversity and American Pluralism Notes to Part I Part II: Deaf Ancestry: Henniker, NH, and Martha's Vineyard, MA 4. Context: Settling the New World 5. The Brown Family of Henniker, NH 6. Martha's Vineyard Vineyard Lineages A Kentish Enclave Life and Marriage on Martha's Vineyard 7. Assimilating and Differentiating Societies The Bali Example: Desa Kolok Notes to Part II Part III: Deaf Ancestry in Maine-Northern Cluster 8. Migration from Martha's Vineyard to Maine The Smith-Parkhurst Clan The Davis Clan The Newcomb Clan The Smith-Hinckley Clan The Sebec Lovejoys The Samuel Allen Clan 9. Other Settlers in the Northern Cluster The Jellison Clan The Jack Clan The Berry Clan The Lovejoy Clan Where Deaf People Lived Notes to Part III Part IV: Deaf Ancestry in Maine-Southern Cluster 10. Southern Cluster The Rogers-Holmes Clan The Badger-Boardwin-Brown-Glidden Clan The Campbell Clan The Curtis-Rowe Clan Notes to Part IV Part V: Deaf Ancestry: Summary and Reflections Summary Reflections Notes to Part V Appendices Appendix A. Briefly Noted Lineages Appendix B. What the Pedigrees Reveal about Genetic Transmission Appendix C. Pedigree Methods Appendix D. Every Name Index to Pedigrees at Our Website Notes to the Appendices Figures 2 through 17 Index We thank the following people who assisted us in gathering, analyzing or displaying our findings: Ms. Ellen Adams, Ms. Carole Browne, Ms. Isabelle Chopin, Ms. Merce Crosas, Ms. Flossie Dere, Col. Wayne Frank, Mr. Jason Freitas, Ms. Mary French, Ms. Emily Gilchrist, Dr. Sue Hotto, Ms. Katarzyna Kaczynski, Ms. Eunice Ladd, Ms. Kay Lam, Ms. Shannon Locke, Mr. Jean-Louis Martinez, Ms. Jillian Motyl, Mr. Edward Murkland, Ms. Kelly Milligan, Mr. Michael Olson, Ms. Harriette Otteson, Ms. Cheryl Patten, Ms. Nancy Porter, Dr. Judy Shepard-Kegl, Mr. Tommy Strunk, Mr. Gary Wait, Ms. Sherry Walrath, Mr. Christian Wayser, Dr. Bencie Woll, Dr. James Woodward, Dr. Del Wynne. We are indebted to the following colleagues who made many valuable suggestions concerning the manuscript: Dr. Yerker Andersson, Dr. Kathleen Arnos, Dr. Doug Baynton, Dr. Dennis Cokely, Mr. Russell Dover, Dr. Carol Erting, Dr. Francois Grosjean, Dr. Tom Humphries, Dr. Robert E. Johnson, Dr. Paddy Ladd, Dr. Harry Lang, Ms. Ella Lentz, Dr. Ceil Lucas, Dr. Harry Markowicz, Ms. Anna Mindess, Dr. James Morris, Dr. Joseph Murray, Dr. Carol Padden, Mr. Frank Philip, Ms. Joan Poole-Nash, Dr. Rachel Rosenstock, Mr. Gerald Shea, Dr. Theresa Smith, Dr. Ted Supalla. In addition to the preceding colleagues, we had fruitful discussions of Deaf ethnicity with: Dr. MJ Bienvenu, Mr. Aaron Brace, Dr. Jere Daniell, Dr. Richard Eckert, Dr. Nora Groce, Dr. John Hinnant, Mr. Bill Moody, Ms. Sharon Neumann-Solow, Dr. Vincent Parillo, Mr. Brian Riley, and Dr. James Woodward. We acknowledge gratefully the following organizations: the Gallaudet University Archives, the Harvard-MIT Data Center of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, the History Factory, the Maine Historical Society, the Maine State Archives, the Maine State Library, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Northeastern University Inter-Library Loan service, the Volta Bureau. The Office of the Provost, Northeastern University, provided partial support for this research and for Dr. Lane's sabbatical year. He acknowledges with appreciation the support of his scholarly work by his chair and dean. The United States has many ethnic groups-it is a hallmark of our culture. This book asks if we have failed to recognize one: Americans whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL).' No one knows how many such people there are but estimates generally range from half a million to 1 million members in the United States.' For the present purpose, we need to distinguish Deaf ASL signers from the much larger and more heterogeneous group of more than 10 million hearing-impaired Americans who communicate primarily in English or another oral language.2 Most of the people in this larger group had conventional schooling and became deaf after acculturation to hearing society-many of them late in life. Accordingly, they do not see themselves as members of a sign-language minority nor do they participate in its organizations, profess its values, or follow its customs; rather, they consider themselves hearing people with a hearing disability. Something similar is true in all nations: there is a group of visual people3 who use a natural visual-manual language (ASL in the United States) and who are often not distinguished from the larger group of people who view themselves as hearing impaired and who use a spoken language in its oral or written form.4 We warmly endorse calls for greater recognition and study of both groups.5 This book is about the Deaf signers of ASL, for if any class of deaf people constitutes an ethnic group, surely it is the signed language minority. In choosing to address this minority, we also benefit from considerable research about its language, culture, history, and social structure. This book, then, is about the linguistic minority in North America whose language is American Sign Language and whose members have a culture they call, in that language, the Deaf-World. Who is in the Deaf-World? Deaf ASL signers are.6 It is often said and repeated that very few Deaf children are born into the Deaf-World, since as few as 4 percent have Deaf parents.? In fact, however, most ASL signers have inherited their membership in the Deaf-World; rather few are Deaf due to disease or trauma. We explore this in Chapter 1; suffice it to say here that Deaf ASL signers are most often the fruit of ancestral transmission from the beginnings of our society and even before; thus, they are indeed "born into" the Deaf-World. As soon as one recognizes the hereditary basis of the Deaf-World, these major questions arise: Do ASL signers, like speakers of other languages, constitute an ethnic group? Who were their ancestors and what were they and their times like? These are the questions we undertake to answer in this book. To discuss ethnicity, we must engage in classifying people and in generalizing about them, albeit using caution and available findings, and noting exceptions and restrictions. Whether we were wise to focus on the class of Deaf ASL signers rather than some other selection (for example, deaf people in general) will appear from the successes and failures of the analysis to follow. We recognize that classifying people by language use (or indeed by many other traits) is inevitably problematic. For one thing, class boundaries are often fuzzy even if the core tendency is clear. Furthermore, the class of Deaf ASL signers is far from homogenous. It embraces people of diverse ethnicities (such as African American, Asian American, and Native American), with diverse ages at acquisition of ASL, various kinds of schooling, and assorted parental languages. Despite these concerns, we will be led to generalize about ASL signers and their language, culture, and history; if we refuse to do so, we will be unable to answer the central question: Are Deaf ASL signers an ethnic group? Our generalizations are based on carefully chosen informants and, in the case of one author - UH, on an insider's experience. We have drawn on the arts, histories, journalism, biographies, autobiographies, drama, and the findings of the social sciences; we have observed how members of the Deaf-World act in various settings. We have not conducted a survey. Generalizations about ethnic groups are rarely based on experimental or survey findings. If we claim that the French love food, for example, it is not because we asked a sample of French men and women if they do, but rather because a score of facts fit together (long preparation of foods, abundance of restaurants, daily shopping for food, numerous books about food, etc.). And when we say that the French love food we do not mean that all French people love food, of course, but rather that it is a trait of French culture. There are undoubtedly some French men and women who do not care about food (we know one) but that does not invalidate the claim.8 Similarly, there may well be some ASL signers who view themselves as, say, hearing-impaired but that alone will not invalidate the claim that Deaf culture does not take that view. Thus when we claim below that Deaf-World values are like this and Deaf-World customs like that, and other such generalizations, if you find yourself thinking "It's more complex than that"-we agree, it is. Our purpose here is to capture some of the main features of the Deaf-World, its central tendencies, in order to evaluate whether it is an ethnic group. In Part I of this book, we examine the fit of the concept of "ethnic group" to the structure of the Deaf-World. ASL signers have been contending for nearly a half century that they are a linguistic and cultural minority, and there is extensive scholarship to support that view. Are they also an ethnic group? Deaf and hearing scholars have raised the issue from time to time over several decades; an inventory of early use of the concept of Deaf ethnicity is in the endnotes.9 This book is, however, the first extended examination of ethnicity and the DeafWorld. A central issue in ethnicity is ancestry. Parts II, III, and IV report our results in tracing Deaf-World ancestry in three places in New England that were key in the founding of the Deaf-World-southern New Hampshire, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and southern Maine. We have focused on the nineteenth and earlier centuries since we are interested in the founders and founding of the Deaf-World. In this decade-long research, we have made a start on describing some of the people, themes and forces in the lives of Deaf founders. We offer these findings and analyses to Deaf and to hearing people, to scholars, and laymen, in the hope that they will assist them in achieving their goals and inspire them to provide for these and other Deaf families a fuller account of what it was to be Deaf and how the language, culture, and social structure of the Deaf-World came about. Deaf ancestry and the lives of the founders are a part of Deaf heritage and it is gratifying to enrich what is known of that history. But there is another and broader reward in store for the thoughtful reader. Deaf people have come together in this nation from its earliest times. They give us insights into the foundations of language, culture, and society.