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mcc-jrr_624-013

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Unnamed Cemetery, 62-4 Summary Report, page 13

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90 Resolved by this Assembly, That the name and style of said corporation be and the same is hereby changed, and that hereafter it be known and called by the name and style of “The American Asylum at Hartford, for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb,” anything in the original act of incorporation to the contrary notwithstanding. Without further definitive research, one can only surmise the motivations of Elijah Boardman in selling his land in 1844 to the American Asylum of Hartford, Connecticut. He probably had a child born “deaf and dumb” into his own family, and perhaps neighboring landowner Nathaniel Terry convinced him to send the child to the American Asylum. The cost of sending a child away to Hartford for the entire course of education would perhaps be comparable today to sending one to Harvard for many years, with associated charges for room and board. Such expenses in order to offer a “good life” to a child born “deaf and dumb” would certainly provide adequate justification for Elijah Boardman and his wife Lucretia to sell their land to the institution in return for the funds necessary to pay for the education and living expenses of the child. Elijah and Lucretia may have even gone with the child to Hartford. In any event, neither Elijah nor Lucretia were found anywhere in the United States in the 1850 census. The 1844 deed of sale to the American Asylum by Elijah and Lucretia is shown below: 13 - (2311)    

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