THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET (1787-1851) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Yale University and Andover Theological Seminary. He was a preacher and instructor. He became interested in the deaf and dumb when he saw that a neighborhood girl, Alice Cogswell, was having trouble playing with other children. She was deaf and dumb and he began to work with her extensively. She was the first student to enroll in what later became The American School for the Deaf and Dumb, founded in 1817 by T. H. Gallaudet. Another student at the school, Sophia Fowler, became his wife in 1821. He was the principal at the school until 1830, when he resigned and wrote children's books. Also he was a chaplin for the insane asylum and minister at the Hartford county jail. Later his son, Edward, founded a deaf and blind school, Gallaudet University, which was named after him.