Walsh, John P.

Born at Evansville, IN; became blind at age 8 from illness. A doctor restored his eyesight at age 11, but warned that he would become blind again, as indeed happened several years later. In 1886, lost his hearing from a cold and "paralysis of the eardrums". Entered the Indiana School for the Deaf that year and graduated. In 1889, went to Gallaudet College at age 16, leaving in 1892 to go to work in an electro-plating factory. Deteriorating eyesight forced him to give up employment soon after that.