Bardes, Henry

Born at Cincinnati, OH. Brain fever at age 3 left him deaf. Ohio School for the Deaf, 1871-1881. Learned leatherwork from his father's tannery and also gained experiences in various Cincinnati shoe factories. On the verge of setting up his own shoe shop, he was instead invited to, and accepted, an appointment as foreman of the shoe shop at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf beginning in 1885, staying for 47 years. Married Edith M. Phelps in 1891.