Man of Faith and Family
Within deaf communities, churches served as an extended family and helped preserve sign language. Deaf religious leaders during Hanson's time served not only as a link to the church and a conduit to salvation but also as a source of information. Seeking ease of communication and shared experiences, many deaf people married within the community, and in late 1800's and early 1900's this became a concern to many who feared the creation of a "deaf race."
As an unmarried man of 26, Hanson presented a controversial stance on deaf marriages. The emerging eugenics movement supported by Alexander Graham Bell and his colleagues argued that deaf marriages created more deaf children. Certain deaf leaders defended deaf people's right to marry among themselves. Hanson wrote an article titled, "The Tendency Among the Deaf to Exclusive Association With One Another" and published it in American Annals of the Deaf, Vol. 33 No. 1, January 1888. The article questioned whether it might be better for deaf people to have a hearing spouse and Hanson's words expressed some commonly held assumptions.
"One result of the tendency to exclusiveness [of the Deaf community] is the frequent marriage of the deaf with the deaf. Much might be said on this question. It is self-evident that unions should be avoided which tend to transmit the infirmity, as indicated by Professor Bell."
"What I contend for is not a separation of the deaf from one another, but that they shold have a more extended intercourse with hearing people, in order to become better citizens and more enlightened men and women."
Excerpts from Olof Hanson's article
Hanson's own marriage was to a deaf woman, Agatha Tiegel. Agatha taught at the Minnesota residential school for deaf children. It is not clear when and where they met. They were married on July 3, 1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had three hearing daughters, Marion, Alice, and Helen.
In 1891, Hanson was confirmed as an adult in the Episcopal church. He became actively involved in the Episcopalian ministry as early as 1909, setting up a bible class for deaf people in Seattle. After completing his term as the National Association of the Deaf president in 1913, Hanson became more involved in the church and by 1929, was ordained.
