It's always interesting to learn about a resident from the past who had a certain issue in his/her life. While I was scanning through digital archives and books I stumbled upon a pamphlet about an institution in Philadelphia that took care of people who had speech disorder. In the pamphlet I discovered a resident from Whitpain who shared his experience about having speech disorder, and how he felt after being cured.
Dr. William Chapman and the
Rise of Speech-Language Pathology In America
The 18th century brought political revolutions in America and France. It also brought new ideas and innovation about the world they lived in, which became known as the "Age of Enlightenment." During this era, there was innovation in science and medicine as well as in the English language. It started with Samuel Johnson who published A Dictionary of the English Language that became a source for the English-speaking world, and later influenced the establishment of the Oxford English Dictionary in the 19th century.
In America after their independence from the British, the Founding Fathers wanted to establish a new identity for the new nation, including to learn to speak well in public. This created a movement for Americans to establish uniform speaking standards.
Meanwhile, there were physicians in America and France who contributed to treat the mentally ill and those with disabilities. Benjamin Rush, for example, was put in charge of the "maniacal" patients at the Pennsylvania Hospital, and made reforms to improve the conditions inside the hospital; Philippe Pinel created humane treatments (known today as moral therapy) for the mentally ill; Abbé Sicard taught those who were deaf to communicate through sign language.
Dr. William Chapman would join the physicians during the 18th and early 19th centuries to improve the disabilities in people. He was born in England and moved to Philadelphia where he worked as a teacher and a bookkeeper. For 28 years, William experienced an "inveterate defective utterance," and he was able to improve his disability and spoke normally ever since. As a result, he began to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to learn more about speech disabilities.
He was able to develop a method to correct stammering, but it was kept secret to the public. He didn't let his patients share his method to anyone:
"...he demanded they sign legally binding papers swearing they would not 'tell, reveal, or communicate to any person or persons, either directly or indirectly, in any matter or form whatsoever, the Course of Application or any Rules thereunto belonging.'"
- Linda Wolfe, The Murder of Dr. Chapman:
The Legendary Trials of Lucretia Chapman and Her Lover
NOTE: And even though he was desperate to keep his development details a secret, he was bragging about it and called himself a miracle worker.
NOTE: William was not the only physician working on correcting stammering. There were doctors who used extreme and harsh treatments like cutting the strings of the tongue or the nerve of the cheek; and there were less harmful treatments like placing a wad of cloth under the patient's tongue and moving your feet and arms while marking spatial intervals between words. The most common treatment was to provide breathing and vocalization exercises.
He told his future wife, Lucretia Winslow Chapman, about his passion and hopes to cure stammerers. The two shared interest in education and helping those in need. And together, they established the United States Institution for the Treatment of Cases of Defective Utterance located on 187 Pine Street in Philadelphia.
Speech Disabilities in Whitpain
One interesting testimony came from a Whitpain resident, who explained his experience with speech disorder, and mentioned that residents in Whitpain also experienced speech disorder. This patient Dr. Chapman cured was named William Barton. In his testimony, he was 31 years old when he spoke about this experience at the Chapman's institution.
Theory
Before the common school system was created, the children were educated at home or at their church. When the common school system was created, there were some families in Whitpain who opposed it since they were use to educating their children at home. This could possibly be the reason why speech disorder was a problem in the area.
As a young child, he was working in labor, and probably didn't get the education he needed.
Bibliography
Duchan, Judith. "A History of Speech - Language Pathology." Judith Felson Duchan. last modified September 16, 2021. https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~duchan/new_history/overview.html.
Stearns, William. "Every Leaf a Panacea? Health and Wellness in 19th-Century American Pamphlets." Readex (blog). July 30, 2014. https://www.readex.com/blog/every-leaf-panacea-health-and-wellness-19th-century-american-pamphlets.
United States Institution for the Treatment of Cases of Defective Utterance, such as Partial Speechlessness, Stuttering, Stammering, Hesitancy, Weakness of Voice, Mis-enunciation, Lisping, &c. &c. Conducted by Mr. & Mrs. Chapman, no. 187, Pine Street, Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: Clarke & Blayney, 1826): 20. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101688692.
Wolfe, Linda. The Murder of Dr. Chapman: The Legendary Trials of Lucretia Chapman and Her Lover. (New York: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc., 2004).