Clark, Robert Carlton, Ph.D. "History of the Willamette Valley Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1927. p. 341. J. LYMAN STEED As superintendent of the Oregon State School for the Deaf, J. Lyman Steed is doing notable work and his achievements in this branch, of education have brought him national renown. He was born March 3, 1880, in Wentzville, St. Charles county, Missouri, and is a son of Henry Harvey and Helen (Lyman) Steed. His grandfather, the Rev. Abram Steed, was a Presbyterian minister who filled pastorates in Moberly, Missouri, Belleville, Kansas, and.other towns, working earnestly and effectively for the success of the church, Frederick Lyman, the maternal grandfather, was a Kansas pioneer whose early home was in New England, and his daughter Helen was born near Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts. Henry H. Steed was freight agent for the Wabash Railroad at St. Charles, Missouri, and is now vice president of the Union Savings Bank of that city, white he also has extensive farm holdings in that state. After the completion of his high school course J. Lyman Steed matriculated in Westminster College at Fulton, Missouri, from which he won the B. L. degree in 1900, and later he was a railroad employe. He worked in banks and. was, also connected with the coal and wood business. At Warrensburg, Missouri, he attended the State Teachers College, from which he received the degree of B. Ped. in 1904, and in 1906 won the M. A. degree from Gallaudet College in Washington, D. C. He first taught a country school and from 1903 to 1905 was a public school principal at Jefferson City; Missouri. From 1906 until 1909 he was principal of the Maryland School for the Blind & Deaf at Baltimore and for nine years thereafter was principal of the Kendall School, the preparatory department, of. Gallaudet College. In September, 1918, Mr. Steed went to Mount Airy, Philadelphia, as principal and assistant superintendent of the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and for eight years acted in those capacities. He then came to Salem and since January 1, 1926, has been superintendent of the State School for the Deaf. The institution was established in 1870 and in 1910 was moved to the present site adjoining the city limits on the north at Locust street. Eleven of the fifty acres belonging to the school have been tastefully laid out in driveways encircling well kept buildings and lawns decorated with shade trees, shrubs and beds of flowering plants. The farm, garden and orchard lands comprise thirty-nine acres. The plant consists of ten units --- the main building, the schoolhouse, the teachers' cottage, the shop, the superintendent's cottage, the power house and laundry, three barns and a garage. The purpose of the institution is to educate those children who are unable to avail themselves of the privileges of the common schools because of deafness. As the pupils remain at the school nine months of the year, for a period extending from childhood to near maturity, it is charged with many duties not comprised in the work of ordinary educational institutions. It provides not merely for intellectual instruction but also for moral training and the teaching of trades that will make the graduates self-supporting when thrown upon their own resources. All applicants must be of sound intellect, in good health and free from any constitutional malady that may render them incapable of receiving instruction. The school is in no respect a home, asylum or charitable institution for the care of deaf persons, nor a hospital for the treatment of diseased conditions that impair the hearing. The most improved methods of giving the deaf child a command of speech and language are employed. The oral method is utilized except in cases where satisfactory progress is not being made and the manual alphabet is then used. The majority of children when they enter the school do not know their own names. They cannot speak and their only means of communication is a few crude gestures. The first few weeks of school life are occupied in training the eves and hands by kindergarten methods, adapted to the needs of the deaf. Then follow gymnastics of the face and tongue and breathing exercises, preparatory to instruction in speech and lip-reading exercises, consisting at first of such simple commands as "come," "run," "jump," etc. The elementary sounds of speech are taught and combinations of these sounds drilled upon. When these combinations form words, they are given to the pupils as names of objects and then lessons in the construction of sentences commence. This comprises the work of the first year and during the second and third years the work in articulation and language instruction is extended. Lessons in phrasing, fluency and accent are given and the written work consists of letters, journals, stories and descriptions of actions and pictures. Pupils in the intermediate department are taught the more difficult language forms. Their speech reading is perfected and, in articulation, they are taught sight reading and the pronunciation of new words and difficult combinations. In the advanced department the studies are nearly the same as those of the public grammar schools, the branches taught being United States and English history, civil government, composition, grammar, literature, political, physical and commercial geography, advanced arithmetic, algebra, physics and physiology. As peared in the leading magazines of the country. Actuated by high ideals, he has dedicated his talents to the service of humanity and his contribution to the world's work is one of great value and importance. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2016 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.