Author: BURNET, John R.
Biography:
BURNET, John R. (b 1809: findmypast.com)
No birth or death records have been located for Burnet, but the remarkable book that he published by subscription in 1835 provides enough biographical evidence to identify him with confidence. He was born in New Jersey in 1809 and lost his hearing at the age of eight. Thereafter his “education, such as it is, was acquired by his own efforts in the intervals of his daily labour for his daily bread, and from such books as fell in his way” (Preface). An older sister, Rachel, assisted and supported him. While he could still remember sound, he began to write poetry, some of which he eventually contributed to newspapers. After Rachel married, he entered an asylum for the deaf and dumb, where he seems to have been reasonably happy though he felt the lack of intellectual stimulation. The volume that he put together contains prose documents about the education and facilities available for people with his disability; some case histories; and a list of deaf and dumb authors, besides Burnet’s own essays and poems. An essay on “My Sister’s Funeral” poignantly describes the isolation of deafness and the way it produces the effect of dumbness also “except to a few familiar ears.” His sister died shortly after the birth of a baby to whom she gave her brother’s names. Census records indicate that Burnet settled as a farmer in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey. By 1850 he was married to Phebe, a deaf and dumb woman born in New York state in 1819, and was a farmer with property worth $1200. They had perhaps three daughters, the youngest of whom was still living with them in 1870. (findmypast.com 25 May 2025; Tales of the Deaf and Dumb [1835]) HJ