By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
CHILMARK – By the mid-1800s, one in 25 people living in the quaint Martha’s Vineyard village of Chilmark was born deaf. This anomaly was thought to be the result of a recessive gene traced to an area called Weald in Kent County, England where many of these Vineyarders originated in the late 17th century. The first known hearing-impaired resident of this community was a man named Jonathan Lambert, who arrived on the island in 1694 using what is now referred to as Old Kent Sign Language. Lambert’s wife was not deaf, but two of their seven children were.
Seclusion from the world
People did not really travel to Chilmark back then. It was hard to get to and there was no port. Relatively secluded from the rest of the world and with such a small population, people married each other, and deafness was passed down from one resident to another until most families had at least one or more family members who were hearing-impaired. A community within a community, 25 percent of the deaf population lived within the Squibnocket section in Chilmark.
The language would eventually be known as Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language, or MVSL. Deaf islanders were not viewed as being disabled. They owned businesses and farms and served in local government.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, most Chilmark fishermen used Squibnocket Beach as the base of operations. The tiny post office there was overseen by George West, who along with his wife and five of their eight children were deaf.
Both parents of famed inventor Alexander Graham Bell were deaf. His research on hearing and elocution of speech led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Bell also conducted genealogical research on the deaf residents of Chilmark in an effort to isolate the cause of their impairment.
He opposed the use of sign language and thought it isolated this community from the rest of humanity and promoted intermarriage which would result in more deaf people. Bell believed in teaching people to read lips and once said, “Those who believe as I do, that the production of a defective race of human beings would be a great calamity to the world, will examine carefully the causes that lead to the intermarriages of the deaf with the object of applying a remedy.”
Population decline
By the late 19th century, the deaf population on the island began to shrink as people began to move away. Tourism grew and after a connection with the mainland was forged, deaf children enrolled in a school called the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Katie West was the last known person to inherit Lambert’s deafness. She died in 1952 and MVSL seemingly died along with her.
Exploring the history
However, the Chilmark Free Public Library’s archives note they are, “Lucky to have documents of their evocative memories, and to enjoy their stories of how children signed behind a schoolteacher’s back; adults signed to one another during church sermons; farmers signed to their children across a wide field; and how fishermen signed to each other from their boats.”
Today, there are several points of interest for visitors who want to learn more about this history. The Jared and Jerusha Mayhew House, located on 251 State Road is one example. During the late 19th century, the home was occupied by Jared, a prosperous farmer, his parents Benjamin and Hannah, older brother Benjamin, his uncle Alfred, and aunts Ruby and Love, all of whom were deaf. Jared is said to have been the last Chilmark resident born into a family where deaf children outnumbered children who could hear.
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