Roberto Sanchez is now introducing our next speaker, Kent Olney. His presentation is “Gallaudet Valedictorian Influences Deaf Midwesterners: The Story of Philip Hasenstab.”

Just as Bambach delivered a biographical sketch of a 19th century Deaf clergyman, so Olney will do the same, albeit not in the first person. His subject is the Reverend Philip Hasenstab. Olney received his Master’s in counseling from Gallaudet 22 years ago, and is happy to be back on campus. The Reverend Philip J. Hasenstab and Olney have a few things in common: Hasenstab graduated from Gallaudet exactly a hundred years before Olney, in 1885; they both grew up in the Midwest, with Hasenstab in Indiana and Olney in Michigan; and both men spent many years working in and around Chicago. They are also both ordained clergymen. Hasenstab came to speak at Gallaudet College for its 75th anniversary in 1939, where he delivered the invocation. Olney is now at the 150th celebration of Kendall Green. He will not deliver an invocation, but will instead deliver a biographical sketch of Hasenstab.

I will first provide background on Hasenstab, then talk about his work in Chicago and the Midwest, and then finally talk about his legacy, his message, and why he is still important today.

Hasenstab was born in NYC in 1861. At the age of two, he and his family moved to Indiana, and around the same time he lost his hearing due to an unknown illness. When he was 8, he entered the Indiana School for the Deaf, where he remained until 1879, when he entered the National Deaf-Mute College. At college, he was captain and quarterback of Gallaudet’s first football team. He weighed less than 140 pounds– imagine playing football when you only weigh that much, especially with the rules of football back then! After graduating from college, he obtained a job at the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville as the boy’s dormitory supervisor. After one year, he then became a teacher, and continued teaching for the next seven years. While he was teaching, he met his wife, Georgia Ellliott, who was a pupil at the Illinois School.

Illinois’ superintendent Gillette heard that a parish in Chicago needed a preacher, and they preferred a graduate of a residential school. Gillette decided to answer the “job ad,” and went to deliver a sermon. People at that church were satisfied, and wanted him to return on a monthly basis. But his superintendent duties and other responsibilities precluded his doing this. Instead, he asked Hasenstab if he would be interested; Hasenstab certainly was, and so he took the train to Chicago, a 250-mile trip one way at a time when transportation was much slower than today, delivered the Sunday sermon, then quickly caught the train and headed back downstate in order to be at work on time for Monday’s classes. Hasenstab did this monthly for four years, then finally resigned as a teacher to become a pastor full time. He relocated to Chicago, where he founded the Chicago Mission for the Deaf. He remained in Chicago and worked there for over fifty years, from 1890 until 1941. He was ordained the first Deaf Methodist minister in 1894.

The average number of parishioners in his church was around 100, and this waxed and waned depending upon events. In 1927 church attendance reached an all-time high of 450 in attendance, of whom 400 were deaf. His work was not just limited to sermons: he conducted bible studies sessions, home visits to parish members, prayer times, and numerous other obligations. The Chicago Club for the Deaf opened near his church, so this area was a center of sorts for the Deaf of Chicago.

Although Hasenstab assumed numerous responsibilities, he also made sure he had capable assistants to delegate to when needed. He did not work alone, and there were four people in particular who were important in his professional life: his wife, Georgia Elliott Hasenstab, Henry Rutherford, Vina Smith, and Laura Sheridan.

Georgia Elliott was one of the first females admitted to Gallaudet in 1887– she didn’t graduate, but she did attend until the end of her sophomore year, when the Missouri School for the Deaf offered her a teaching position. She was a popular teacher during her time there, but ultimately resigned to move to Chicago and marry Hasenstab. She helped with the church’s Ladies Aid Society, leading Bible classes, and on occasion, in her husband’s absence, she delivered sermons on Sundays. Rutherford was a student at the Illinois School for the Deaf, where he graduated in 1896. He attended Gallaudet College for one year, then became a farmer. In 1900, he joined Hasenstab in his work. Rutherford helped with the church’s outreach efforts, visiting far-flung Deaf Methodists in small towns and rural areas in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Vina Smith and Laura Sheridan helped both of the Hasenstabs, and Sheridan, like Georgia Hasenstab, sometimes gave the sermons in the Reverend Hasenstab’s absence.

Hasenstab also communicated with his flock and other interested parties via publications such as The Silent Herald, a church paper that was published for nearly 40 years on a monthly basis. This periodical included church information, transcripts of sermons, community events, and his travel schedule, among other items of interest. When Hasenstab traveled, the people he was trying to reach out to responded enthusiastically and made efforts to be able to see him. On on cold day in 1904, one man sledded 18 miles just to see Hasenstab. Another man once walked 30 miles to be able to meet Hasenstab. Hasenstab’s organized and covered church-related efforts not just in Chicago but an entire region in the Midwest. He and Rutherford split this territory, and they traveled through an area that was 240,000 square miles wide. Hasenstab’s Chicago grew rapidly, from a moderately-sized regional city that served as the Midwest’s economic and financial center to what was eventually the second largest city in the United States at that time. In 1914, Hasenstab was granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity; he continued his work ministering to the people of Chicago and the Midwest almost up until his death in 1941. His importance today stems from his outreach efforts and his influence in establishing the Methodist Church as a home for Deaf people.

My Commentary: Olney has contributed to our knowledge of Deaf clergymen of the 19th century, just as Bambach did. My only criticism of both their talks is that we received so much biographical information, and not enough about how the work of these two men influenced the present day, or how their minstries affected Gallaudet or Gallaudet-bound individuals in their regions. For example, did the periodical that Hasenstab published lead to other papers being printed? Did Hasenstab as editor correspond with other editors within the “Little Paper Family”? Are there church publications or outreach efforts later in the 20th century that owe their existence/influence to Hasenstab? The same is true of Koehler’s work. Finally, given the inordinate influence of religion on Deaf education and Deaf life, did either Hasenstab or Koehler give any thought to the dominance of religion in determining the destiny of the schools, the community, its philosophy, and the directions that Deaf America took?