John Collins Covell

John Collins Covell (December 19, 1823 – June 4, 1887) was a 19th-century American educator and school administrator specializing in deaf education in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia.

Born in 1823 in Rhode Island, Covell was the son of Episcopal minister Reverend Joseph S. Covell and the grandson of Rhode Island Governor John Collins. Covell attended Trinity College and graduated from the institution in 1847. He was recommended as a candidate for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and received the orders of a deacon.

Covell accepted a teaching position in the Deaf Department of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and relocated there in 1847. Covell was made a vice-principal of the institution and given charge of the entire Deaf Mute Department in 1852. During the American Civil War, Covell entered the Confederate States Army with the rank of major and served on the staff of Brigadier General Henry A. Wise. Covell served on General Wise's staff only briefly before returning to the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind to serve as its principal in 1862, a position he held until 1872. In 1874, Covell was selected to serve as the principal of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Under his leadership, the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind experienced "unprecedented success" and its student body began to grow due to his initiatives. He served as the institution's principal until his death in 1887.

Covell was an active and prominent member of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia and was appointed the first churchwarden of Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in Romney. Covell played an instrumental role in the construction of the church through his donation of property for the building site and his financial contribution of the majority of its construction costs.

Early life and education John Collins Covell was born on December 19, 1823, in Newport, Rhode Island, and was the son of Episcopal minister, Reverend Joseph S. Covell. Covell was named for his maternal grandfather, Rhode Island Governor John Collins.

Educator and school administrator

Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Upon graduating from Trinity College, Covell accepted a teaching position in the Deaf Department of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton, Virginia and relocated there in September 1847. Covell remained principal of the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind for nine years until his resignation from the institution in 1872. Over a century after Covell's 1870 prediction, American Sign Language has been added to curricula of language departments in a growing number of American universities.

West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind Administration Building of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Romney, West Virginia, in 1880 during Covell's tenure as its principal. In June–July 1874, Covell was selected by the Board of Regents of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Romney, West Virginia to serve as the institution's principal, and he began his tenure there in August of that year. Upon his arrival, Covell found the schools "in a chaotic condition" with decreasing attendance, but the situation improved after Covell provided leadership, order, and a process of reorganization. The board approved Covell's recommendation, and the resulting investigation identified students in those counties, which validated Covell's request. By the schools' tenth anniversary in 1880, the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind's attendance reached 120, consisting of 87 "deaf-mute" and 33 blind students. At his death in 1887, the institution had grown from a student body of 60 pupils in 1874 to 130.

Among his other reforms, Covell undertook to modernize the facilities of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind by urging the state to install gas lighting and to install plumbing for the purposes of providing tap water. Covell continued serving as principal of the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind until his death from stomach cancer on Saturday, June 4, 1887, in Romney. His obituary in The Churchman remarked of Covell:

ith untiring zeal and fidelity, he has labored in the noble work of elevating and educating the deaf, dumb and the blind. He stood without an equal in methods entirely original. Covell is interred with his wife Annie at Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney. Married Garrett Williams Parsons, son of Col. Isaac Parsons and Susan Blue Parsons of Wappocomo, in Romney on November 12, 1878. April 13, 1938 He was appointed the first churchwarden of Saint Stephen's by Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, George William Peterkin.