Charles-Michel de l'Épée is considered the father of sign language. In 1771 he started the first free school for the deaf in Paris. He took in deaf students from many different places. Some came from Martha's Vineyard in the United States. There was a good deal of hereditary deafness there and the residents adopted their own sign language. Many came who used a local sign language. L'Épée combined all these into a standard sign language. His sign language eventually developed into the French Sign Language and is widely used all over Europe.