Booth, Edmund, 1810-1905
Dates
- Existence: 1810 - 1905
Biography
Edmund Booth was born on August 24, 1810 in Springfield, MA. He became deaf by the age of eight but retained the power of speech to such an extent that he was always able to verbally communicate. In 1828, he entered Hartford Connecticut School for the Deaf. Upon graduation he was offered a teaching position at the school. A few years later he moved to Iowa Territory for health reasons and built a house there in 1840. Booth married Mary Ann Walworth, a former student of his, that same year. In 1842, he was elected county recorder, and in 1844, became the enrolling and engrossing clerk to the Iowa House of Representatives. Booth emigrated to California in 1849 where he took over the printing of the newspaper, "Anamosa Eureka." He remained in the printing business until his retirement. A staunch abolitionist, he was highly influential as a newspaperman and also championed the causes of the hearing-impaired. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Iowa State School for the Deaf. Edmund Booth died in 1905 in Anamosa, Iowa. Booth is the grandfather of Dartmouth College professor Edmund Hendershot Booth (1895-1975) and great-grandfather to poet Philip Booth (1925-2007).
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Edmund Booth papers
Edmund W. Booth (1810-1905), printer and advocate for the deaf. The collection consists of journals, correspondence and photographs relating to his career as a forty-niner to California, a newspaper editor, and his work with the education of the deaf.