Long, Morris Tudor "Colonel"

Born at Kirksville, KY and deafened by scarlet fever at age 7. Went to public schools first, then the Kentucky School for the deaf starting at age 14, but the outbreak of the Civil War forced him to stop his studies. He is sometimes said to have served in the Union army (state militia) during the American Civil War but, despite his nickname, this appears to be true only for his two hearing brothers, Morris himself staying on the family farm during the war. Married Nannie Robinson in 1872. In 1881, he began work at the Kentucky School as a gardener, and when Kentucky opened its "Colored School for the Deaf" in 1885, he was chosen as head officer and his wife as matron.