Edmund and Mary Ann Walworth Booth House

This historic home was built by Edmund and Mary Ann Walworth Booth in 1870. Edmund Booth (1810-1905) was a pioneer of deaf education and advocacy in Iowa during the 19th century. He became completely deaf and blind in one eye by age eight but overcame these challenges to become a writer, journalist, and in 1854 co-founder of the Iowa School of the Deaf. Mary Ann (1817-1898) lost her hearing by the time she was four and never learned how to speak. Both supported social justice causes including abolition and women's suffrage. The house, which remains a private residence, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Edmund Booth was born in Massachusetts in 1810. When he was four he contracted meningitis from his father, who died suddenly of the disease, and became partially blind and deaf. However, his mother, Martha, taught him how to write, read, and speak and he further developed these skills (and sign language) at what is now known as the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. He enrolled in 1828 when he was 16 and became a teacher there after he graduated. One of his students was Mary Ann, who grew up in Connecticut.

Booth remained at the school until 1839 when he moved what would become Anamosa in Jones County. Mary Ann and her family had moved to Illinois in 1838 but she settled with two siblings in Anamosa. Booth decided to follow her and they got married in 1840. They shared a love for reading and learning and communicated using sign language. They had four children, one of whom died at 17 months.

In 1849, Booth headed to California to mine for gold, leaving Mary Ann to take care of the children and family affairs by herself. While he was gone, she successfully managed the family farm, raised their children, built a house, and handed the family's finances on her own. Booth did not become rich but did manage to send money to Mary Ann, who used it to buy a 5-acre tract of farmland. Upon returning to Anamosa, Booth resumed farming but two years later became the owner and editor of an abolitionist newspaper called the Anamosa Eureka. He served as editor until 1898. One of his sons, Thomas, joined him and later became part owner in 1868. Thomas became editor in 1898 and served in that position until 1911. In addition to working as editor of the Anamosa Eureka, Booth also served two terms as county recorder.

Over the years, Booth earned a national reputation for his advocacy of the deaf. As mentioned above, in 1854 he co-founded the Iowa School of the Deaf in Iowa City and taught there for several years. In 1880, he played an important role in the establishment of the National Association of the Deaf and served as temporary chair. The next year, he and four other deaf men founded the Iowa Association of the Deaf. Booth also published writings frequently in the American Annals of the Deaf.

Mary Ann died in 1898 and Booth in 1905. It appears that Thomas and his wife lived in the house after 1905.

Booth, Edmund, and San Joaquin Pioneer & Historical Society. Edmund Booth -1905 forty-niner; the life story of a deaf pioneer, including portions of his autobiographical notes and gold rush diary, and selections from family letters and reminiscences. Stockton, Calif., San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical Society, 1953. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services//service/gdc/calbk/066.pdf.

Page, William C. "Edmund and Mary Ann Walworth Booth House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. January 16, 2001. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/ddab1401-163a-4331-b514-ed580f6dccb1.

Spice, Wilma. "Edmund Booth." Jones County Pages. Accessed December 7, 2021. http://iowajones.org/bio/Booth_Edmund.htm.