LeClercq, Charles Joseph Lalon

Born at New Orleans; deafened during the 1871-1872 New York City epidemic of spinal meningitis. Transferred from regular schools to the New York School for the deaf. While there, he took art courses in an evening school by special arrangement, eventually studying art at Cooper Union. Began doing pen-and-ink illustration for newspapers and wash drawings for magazines, soon adding the design of posters and advertising. Later he added skill in the then-new field of photo-engraving. He wrote and illustrated articles for the Silent Worker newspaper.