Smith, Sophia

Late deafened. Born at Hartfield, MA and educated locally. Never married; became very deaf by age 40; several operations to restore her hearing all failed. Lived with her sister and brother in Northampton, MA. After their deaths, she inherited her brother's stock-exchange fortune. At first, she thought of using the fortune after her own death to found a school for the deaf. However, John Clarke died before she did, endowing what is now the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton in 1867, and she changed her plans for the money. On the advice of a clergyman, she decided to leave the fortune to found a college for women after her own death, and in 1868 she drew up a will to that effect. Five years after she died of a stroke, Smith College opened in Northampton. It is still a large and respected women's college today.