Backus, Levi

One of the first students at the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, at age 14; left 5 years later. Also one of two possibilities for the honor of first American-born deaf teacher (the other contender being Abigail Dillingham, q.v.), when he was appointed a teacher in the Central New York Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Canajoharie, NY in 1824 until its demise in 1836. From 1836 or 1837 to at least 1848, at various times, was editor and owner of Canajoharie Radii, Montgomery County Phoenix (Ft. Plain, N.Y.), Radii and Phoenix, and Cherry Valley Gazette.