# Thomas Stringer (carpenter) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Stringer_(carpenter) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Stringer_(carpenter).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stringer_(carpenter) > Source revision: 1316937511 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For other people named Thomas Stringer, see [Thomas Stringer](/source/Thomas_Stringer_(disambiguation)). **Thomas Stringer** (July 3, 1886 – October 11, 1945) was an American carpenter. Deafblind from a young age, Stringer was brought to the [Perkins Institution for the Blind](/source/Perkins_School_for_the_Blind) through the fundraising of [Helen Keller](/source/Helen_Keller). He was well-regarded at the school for his carpentry skills, which he used to help support himself after graduating from Perkins in 1913. ## Biography Thomas Stringer was born on July 3, 1886, in [Washington, Pennsylvania](/source/Washington,_Pennsylvania).[1][2] He became blind and deaf after being infected with [spinal meningitis](/source/Spinal_meningitis) at age two or three.[3] His mother died soon after his illness, and his father placed him in a hospital in [Allegheny](/source/Allegheny,_Pennsylvania).[3] He was confined to a bed and seemed destined to live in a series of [almshouses](/source/Almshouse).[4] Stringer's plight came to the attention of ten-year-old Helen Keller, who was determined to bring Tommy to the Perkins Institution for the Blind.[4] Keller used creative means to raise tuition for Stringer to attend Perkins: when her dog Lioness was killed by a policeman, her letter to a benefactor recounting the tragedy was published widely, which led to people sending in donations to purchase her another dog.[5] Instead, Helen donated the money to a fund established by Perkins director [Michael Anagnos](/source/Michael_Anagnos) to support Stringer.[5] Stringer was brought to the Kindergarten for the Blind at [Jamaica Plain](/source/Jamaica_Plain) in Boston. In April 1891, at four years and nine months old, he was brought to the Perkins Institution.[6] After learning to walk, dress, and feed himself, Stringer was taught to recognize words fingerspelled into his hand.[1] The first word he recognized, in November 1891, was bread.[1] His reading and talking were conducted through fingerspelling, but his instructors insisted on Stringer learning to read from the lips and to articulate speech, requiring a spoken sentence practiced each morning.[6] Arithmetic was his strongest subject in school; his handwriting was described as "firm, neat and legible."[6] In the 1890s he was instructed by Gustaf Larsson in [sloyd](/source/Sloyd), a system of handicraft-based education.[6] His summers were spent at [Wrentham, Massachusetts](/source/Wrentham,_Massachusetts), at the farmhouse of Reverend William L. Brown.[6] In 1900, at age thirteen, he was admitted to Lowell Grammar School in Roxbury as a sixth grader.[7][8] He learned alongside his classmates with the assistance of his teacher and interpreter, Helen S. Conley;[9] Stringer graduated from the grammar school in 1903.[10] By age fifteen he was installing shelves and steps at the Perkins kindergarten; he was called upon to replace worn window-cords and replace broken locks.[1] At the house and farm where he spent his summers, he constructed a railing on a set of stairs and secured a gas pipe in the barn to ensure the cats who lived there would be safe.[1] Stringer traveled through the northeast United States, visiting the [Philadelphia Mint](/source/Philadelphia_Mint) and being received by [President William McKinley](/source/William_McKinley) in the [White House](/source/White_House).[8] Stringer spent twenty years at Perkins, graduating in 1913.[5] After graduating, he moved in with a guardian, Lee Edgarton, a grocer in Fulton, New York.[7][4] The fund that Anagnos set up for Stringer provided a $1,000 per year stipend for his income, as well as a workbench and a tandem bicycle he could ride with a seeing companion.[7] He also earned money making vegetable crates for local farmers.[11] Stringer died at age fifty-nine on October 11, 1945.[4] ## References 1. Wade, William (1901). [*The Deaf-blind: A Monograph*](https://books.google.com/books?id=NuKt0TTpPk8C&pg=PA79). Indianapolis, Indiana: Hecker Brothers. pp. 53–59. Retrieved October 28, 2021. 1. Ellis, William T. (October 1897). ["Helen Keller and Tommy Stringer"](https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15085coll2/id/7131). *St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks*. **42** (12): 996–1000. Retrieved October 28, 2021. 1. ["Wonderful Tom Stringer"](https://books.google.com/books?id=NrI6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA614). *The Christian Advocate*. **77** (16): 614–615. T. Carlton & J. Porter. April 17, 1902. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. ["The touching tale of Tommy Stringer"](https://www.perkins.org/the-touching-tale-of-tommy-stringer/). *Perkins School for the Blind*. May 11, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. Koestler, Frances A. (2005). ["Chapter 25: The Loneliest People"](https://www.afb.org/online-library/unseen-minority-0/chapter-25). *The unseen minority : a social history of blindness in the United States*. New York: AFB Press. pp. 500–529. ISBN 9780891288961. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. Perkins Institute for the Blind (1896). [*Annual Report of the Trustees of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind to the Corporation*](https://archive.org/details/annualreportoftr6466perk/page/n471/mode/2up). Press of George H. Ellis. pp. 176–205. Retrieved October 28, 2021. 1. Eliassen, Meredith (2021). [*Helen Keller : a life in American history*](https://books.google.com/books?id=eF89EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 129. ISBN 9781440874642. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. Everett, Ruth (February 1902). ["He Sets a Good Example That Explodes Excuses"](https://books.google.com/books?id=7119IMk0iD8C&pg=PA80). *Success*. **5** (93): 80–81. McGraw-Marden Company. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. Perkins Institute for the Blind (1900). [*Annual Report of the Trustees of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind to the Corporation*](https://books.google.com/books?id=NW8PAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA3-PA205). Press of George H. Ellis. pp. 202–219. Retrieved October 28, 2021. 1. Howe, Maud (1903). [*Laura Bridgman*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cm0JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA382). Boston: Little, Brown & Company. p. 382. Retrieved October 30, 2021. 1. [*The deaf way : perspectives from the International Conference on Deaf Culture*](https://books.google.com/books?id=bqJxAcmA9yEC&pg=PA498). Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press. 1994. p. 498. ISBN 9781563680267. Retrieved October 30, 2021. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Stringer (carpenter)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stringer_(carpenter)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stringer_(carpenter)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.