James Morrison Heady 11 inch by 14 inch oil on canvas SOLD see enlarge image

James Morrison Heady was the Deaf “Blind Bard of Kentucky.” He was born in Kentucky in 1829 and went to Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville. A piece of wood chip from a log hit Morrison's eye and went blind at age 6, and later was accidently hit by a boy's foot on the other eye and went blind at age 16. He was a poet and an author. He was also an inventor who did a raised letter hand glove “Talking Glove” to communicate with the Deafblind people. About age 40, he fell and became Deaf. He died at age 86 in 1915 and was buried at the Elk Creek Cemetery, Spencer County, in Taylorsville, KY.