Bridgman, Laura, an American blind mute, born in Hanover, N.H., Dec. 21, 1829. At two years of age both sight and hearing were entirely destroyed by fever. In 1839, Dr. Howe, of Boston, undertook her care and education at the deaf and dumb school. The first attempt was to give her a knowledge of arbitrary signs, by which she could interchange thoughts with others. Then she learned to read embossed letters by touch; next, embossed words were attached to different articles, and she learned to associate each with its corresponding object. Her touch grew in accuracy as its power increased; she learned to know people almost instantly by their touch alone. In a year or two more she was able to receive lessons in geography, algebra, and history. She learned to write a fair, legible, square hand, and to read with great dexterity, and at last even to think deeply, and to reason with discrimination. She died May 4, 1889.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.