Clark, Matthew

Graduate of the New York school for the deaf (Fanwood). Founding teacher at the Texas school for the deaf, 1857; also hired by its board of trustees to find and recruit students. Began as a temporary teacher there, rising to assistant teacher. Later was instrumental in the founding of Arkansas' second private school for the deaf at Ft. Smith in 1860, where he was the sole teacher for an enrollment of 6 pupils. This school had been open only 10 months before it was forced to close due to the U.S. Civil War, and it never reopened. Clark's subsequent history is unknown.