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RecordIdNumber: MH:N1
Note: Arminda Jane could not hear or speak from birth. Her mother had scarlet fever during her pregnancy. Her father died from this befor she was born. She Had signs for each of her children which she used in the place of names. Each Sign represented somthing unique about the child. Her Grandchildren called her grannie Boo because when she tryed to speak it sounded like boo boo boo. When Arminda Jane Smith was 16 years old she was attending The Alabama school for the deff and Blind at Talladega. One of the women who helped with the girls in the dorm noticed something was wrong. She suspected Arminda might be pregnant. She wrote a letter to her parents. William T McClung came to get her quickly. He could not afford tickets so he talked the men working on the train to let them ride in the steam engine. It was in the winter of 1889. They kept warm by the doors of the furnice where it was stoked with cole. When they got home William T accused his hired man who worked on the farm of beint the father and ran him off. Arminda Told her mother and her mothers brothers, Tom David and Asbery Kidd a different story. She said her step father William T McClung was the father. Her uncles never had anything els to do with William T and for many years carried guns and swore they would kill him yet. The only thing that stoped them was the thought of making their sister a widow again. My Grandfather Harvy Washington Uptain told me this story in 1995. The only time I had ever seen him cry before that was at his sons funeral and the only time after was at his doughters funeral. This was secret he had never told anyone since his aunts and uncles told him. He Told me because he wanted me to go with him to the cemetery where his oldest brother was buried so he could put flowers on his grave. He is burried at Old Union Near Golden Mississippi near his Aunt Julie Kidd Mann. The child was named Henry he took the last name of McClung and when Arminda and Roscoe Uptain married he remained with William T McClung and Margaret Kidd Smith McClung. Henry Died from a fever when he was 8 years old. Alabama instute for the deaf Dr. Joseph Henry Johnson's dream of a school for deaf children in Alabama was barely three years old when Civil War broke out in the land. But the strength and perseverance of the Johnson family dream to serve others prevailed during tenuous times. It was a dream that called for personal sacrifice, dedication and passionate commitment. The story begins with the birth of William Seaborn Johnson in 1845 near Cave Spring, Georgia. He was the only deaf child in a family of 10 children. His older brother, Joseph Henry, was particularly devoted to his brother and spent a great deal of time working with deaf children at the Georgia School for the Deaf. Joseph graduated from medical school but decided instead to pursue a career in education that would enable him to help his young brother. In 1858 after his cousin, O.P. Fannin, resigned as superintendent of the Georgia school, Johnson approached Alabama Governor A.B. Moore and the first superintendent of education, William F. Perry, about opening a school for deaf children in Alabama. They first considered a site at Auburn, but no suitable building could be found. Instead, Johnson settled his family and students in an unoccupied school building which had been built by Masons in Talladega in 1850. Johnson's passionate commitment of service to the deaf is best captured in his 1861 AIDB annual report: What is the condition of the uneducated deaf mute, and to what extent does this misfortune go? Imagine if we can their condition. Emphatically children of silence, they are cut off from the charms and improvement of social intercourse. The gleeful songs of childhood echo not a feeling in their imprisoned minds. The thunder's voice awakes no echo in their dead ears. But these minds are not hopelessly imprisoned. The grand object of our Institution is to effect a transformation in the lives of uneducated deaf in our state, and we would appeal to every philanthropic heart to aid us in our purpose. We are sure our appeal will not be made in vain. The Johnson family invested heavily in AIDB through their passion for service. Joseph Henry Johnson was the school's first president; his wife, Emily, the matron. His sister was the school's first teacher, and his son, Seaborn, a teacher. His daughter, Annie, also taught, and his son, Joseph Henry Jr., succeeded him as president. His brother-in-law, Reuben R. Asbury, is credited with founding the Alabama School for the Blind after Civil War imprisonment left him visually impaired and deeply concerned with helping those "who are trapped in perpetual darkness." And of course, his brother Seaborn. The school's first student. He was the source of Johnson's inspiration. Seaborn attended what would become Gallaudet University and returned to ASD to inspire many other students. He is reported to have worked magic on homesick youngsters. He is known as the "Father of Athletics" and organized the school's first baseball team in 1870. He taught academics and industrial arts and was a friend and advisor to staff and students alike for 43 years. He embodied everything that his brother, Joseph Henry, knew he could become when he created the school for the deaf.
UniversallyUniqueID: FAFDAA55-9DEB-4C59-8751-A7E6C6B40F00
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