I recently stumbled across an interesting fact about Moses Clapp. In addition to being a tireless advocate for the rights of women, black people, and American Indians, he also supported deaf people. In A Place of Their Own: Creating the Deaf Community in America, author John Van Cleve explains that “Minnesota Senator Moses E. Clapp proposed as well that the federal government create a ‘bureau for the deaf and dumb’ in the United States Department of Labor.

portrait of Senator Moses Clapp Moses Edwin Vail Clapp was born on May 21st, 1851 in Delphi, Indiana, son of Harvey Spaulding Clapp and Jane Abigail Clapp (nee Vandercook). He went to law school at the University of Wisconsin. At age 23, Moses married Harriet “Hattie” Allen of Indiana. Moses and Hattie Clapp had four children: Catrina Clapp, born in 1880. Harvey Spaulding Clapp II, born November 19th, 1881 in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Ella Grace Clapp, born in 1889. Hattie Alice Clapp.