James O. Clephane

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James O. Clephane
Englewood, NJ
, US
Occupation(s)Inventor, court reporter, venture capitalist
Spouse
Pauline Medina Harrison
(m. 1867)
Children
  • Sarah Levina Clephane
  • Malcolm Walcott Clephane
  • Mrs. Peter Stanford Duryee (Pauline Clephane)
Parent(s)James Clephane and Anne Ogilvie
RelativesLewis Clephane (sibling)

James Ogilvie Clephane (February 21, 1842

venture capitalist in both Washington, D.C., and New York City.[3] He was involved in improving, promoting and supporting several inventions during the Gilded Age, including the typewriter, the graphophone, and the linotype machine. He has been called the "father of the linotype machine", and the development of mechanical typesetting, including the first typewriter, was largely due to his initiative and investment.[2] He is known as the "unsung hero of the development of the typewriter and Linotype."[4]

Early days

James O. Clephane was born in

high society post-Civil War, during the Gilded Age
, and into the 20th century.

James O. Clephane was a highly competent

stenographer.[9] He was "one of the leading stenographers during the eventful days of the civil war and subsequently".[10] He was called to testify at the trial of Andrew Johnson.[11]

On April 3, 1868, Clephane

testified in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, having been called as a witness by the prosecution.[12] He was one of several individuals who testified about a speech that Johnson had made in Washington, D.C., on August 18, 1866. Clephane had, at the time of the speech, made a report on it as a phonographic reporter. Along with the other witnesses, he corroborated that the wording of their reports had been corrected by the president's private secretary, Colonel W. G. Moore. Moore then testified that the corrections made by him were corrections he had made without the approval of Johnson, and only related to the language used, and did not change the sense of the reports.[13]

While a court reporter, he began to seek easier ways to

Christopher Sholes
.

Clephane would eventually move his family from their downtown

Englewood, New Jersey—a popular New York City suburb for financiers during the late 19th century. His work as a venture capitalist would continue at his office on Wall Street
at 45 Broadway, New York, New York.

Typewriter

There were many patents for "writing machines" throughout the 19th century,

Soule and Glidden
. Clephane had an indirect but important part to play in its development and perfection.

When Sholes and his business associate

lead users
in developing their product.

Mechanical typesetting

Although the typewriter would go into commercial production only in 1873, Clephane recognised that it would solve part of his problems, as notes could now be transcribed quickly, but it would still take long to

typeset the material and prepare it for publication. "I want to bridge the gap between the typewriter and the printed page" he declared in 1872,[18] and began to pursue the invention of a machine for typesetting. Along with Charles T. Moore, he devised a machine which cast type from papier-mâché matrices indented by mechanically assembled characters, but it had numerous defects which they were unable to rectify. Moore approached August Hahl in 1876, with whom Ottmar Mergenthaler was working at the time. Mergenthaler immediately suggested casting the type from a metal matrix instead, and set to work on a typesetting machine, spending a year redesigning it until in the summer of 1877 he felt he had a working prototype.[19]

It produced print by lithography, which was problematic. Clephane made the suggestion of using stereography instead, and Mergenthaler began to research this approach, for which Clephane provided financial backing.[20] By 1879, it was still in development. Mergenthaler designed a line casting machine, but then tore up the plans in frustration. Clephane encouraged him to continue; he remained confident in the value of the invention despite all the scepticism and financial embarrassments that accompanied it.

By 1883, the machine was perfected and patented in 1884. Meanwhile, Clephane had formed the National Typographic Company for manufacturing it, with a capitalization of $1 million and named Mergenthaler as manager of its Baltimore factory. The company became the

New York Tribune, who exclaimed "Ottmar, you've done it again! A line o' type!" from which it got its name: the Linotype machine.[21]

Clephane remained a Director of Mergenthaler Linotype Company until October 1910 when he was succeeded by Norman Dodge.[22]

Family History and Reputation

The Clephane family was prominent among elites in Washington, D.C. James O. Clephane's brother [1]Lewis Clephane—was named Postmaster of District by Abraham Lincoln, tapped for a senior role at the United States Department of the Treasury by Salmon P. Chase, and occupied an influential role in Washington's high political society. James O. Clephane and Lewis maintained close relations with President Lincoln and his family.[23] Lewis Clephane is also credited with founding the Republican Party and early abolitionist efforts amid majority pro-slavery elites in Washington.[24] Further, Lewis Clephane went on to be the publisher of pro-Lincoln newspaper, The National Republican (newspaper). He would eventually build a mansion at the corner of 13th Street Northwest and K Street (Washington, D.C.) Northwest.

The Clephane family can be traced back to the family's noble roots, with their initial settlement in what is now Scotland directly after the Norman Conquest. Between 1200 and the Battle of Battle of Bannockburn, the Clephanes acquired lands of Castle of Carslogie, which became their primary seat.[25] They constructed the castle in 1590, and the ruins of the castle still bear the date's inscription.[26] The castle was handed through generations until 1804, when Major General William McLean Douglas Clephane sold the castle and barony lands prior to passing away.[7] It is now called Carslogie House.

James Ogilvie Clephane's father, James Clephane Sr., is known to have been close with

Sir Walter Scott who was the guardian of Clephane's cousin, Margaret Clephane. She would go on to marry Spencer Compton and become the second Marquess of Northampton.[24]

James Clephane Sr. emigrated to America in 1817,

Sir Walter Scott's Waverley while in Edinburgh. He was for some time the president of the Columbia Typographical
union. Clephane Sr. was a member of the Original Inhabitants of Washington D.C., an elite group of original men with deep societal and political ties for generations in the nation's capital.

James O. Clephane was known to be a superb typist, and worked as a stenographer for high courts in Washington, D.C., as well as in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. He would also go on to pass the Bar examination, but would remain a stenographer despite earning a law degree. It was in his work with courts and the President that Clephane discovered the inefficiencies of type-writing, specifically the tediousness of duplicating transcripts, as was required.

J.O. Clephane served as the lead civic marshal in the procession through Washington, D.C. following Assassination of Abraham Lincoln alongside Col. B. B. French. The procession had an estimated 18,000 participants and 150,000 spectators.[27]

Lewis Clephane would remain in Washington, D.C., as a key figure in the city's upper echelon, and becoming a co-founder of Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C.[28] His son, Walter Clephane, would remain prominent and lived in Chevy Chase (Washington, D.C.).

In the late 19th century, James Ogilvie Clephane relocated to the

US$119,000,000 (in 2023 dollars).[29] His family moved to an estate in Englewood, New Jersey and are consistently listed in the Social Register
throughout the 19th and 20th century, as was Lewis Clephane's family in Washington, D.C.

Other

Besides the typewriter and the linotype machine, he was also involved in the development of the graphophone and served on the board of directors of Columbia Records, making "one of the leading phonographers of the country".[6] In addition, he was also a director in the Locke Steel Belt Company, the Linomatrix Machine Company, the National Typographic Company, the Aurora Mining Company, the Horton Basket Machine Company, the Fowler-Henkle Printing Press Company, the Oddur Machine Company, in several of which he was the president.[1] He also published some travel literature.

His role in surprisingly many inventions is explained by Roger Burlingame:[30]

Clephane [...] was intent upon his problem. He was constantly stretching out his antennae for new ideas. It is not surprising that such a man should provide a center for gadget-fanciers. It is more so that this center, once established, became such a magnet for investors. Perhaps it was the great idea which drew the support. There was much, to be sure, in the persuasive personality of Clephane—a personality to which Mr. Dale Carnegie might well point. But all the subterfuges practiced today in the winning of friends and the influencing of people would have availed Clephane little without his dynamic, irrepressible faith. He had a kind of Napoleonic power that seemed to go with his little stature. Men flocked about him and he led them forward toward the avatar. If any faltered, Clephane would kick him back on his feet. He was harsh, merciless, dominant when the idea was before him.

He suffered a

Englewood, New Jersey, at the time.[2] His widow Pauline Medina Clephane died aged 87 in 1935, leaving two daughters: Pauline Duryee (née Clephane) and Sarah "Sadie" Clephane, and a son: Malcolm Walcott Clephane.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b c Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, New York: L.R. Hamersly & Company, 1909
  2. ^ a b c d e "JAMES O. CLEPHANE DEAD.; Development of Linotype Machine Largely Due to His Efforts.", The New York Times, p. 11, December 1, 1910
  3. ^ "The Invention of the Linotype Machine (Jienne Alhaideri '13) - From Tablet to Tablet: A History of the Book". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  4. .
  5. ^ Records - Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Columbia Historical Society, 1918
  6. ^ a b "DEATH OF JAMES CLEPHANE.; An Aged Resident and the Oldest Typographer in Washington", The Washington Post, December 2, 1880
  7. ^ a b "Home". ClanCentral. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  8. ^ a b "Literary Notes", The New York Times, p. 3, June 28, 1880
  9. ^ Brown, Rick, An Overview of the History of the Linotype Machine, archived from the original on 2009-02-20, retrieved 2009-01-06
  10. The Evening Star
    , p. 10
  11. ^ Trial of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, vol. 1, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1868
  12. ^ Extracts from the Journal of the United States Senate In All Cases of Impeachment Presented By The United States House of Representatives (1798-1904). Congressional serial set. Washington Government Printing Office. 1912. p. 244.
  13. ^ "The Impeachment Trial". Spirit Of Jefferson at Newspapers.com. April 7, 1868. Retrieved 22 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Ridpath, John Clark, ed. (1899), The Standard American Encyclopedia of Arts, Sciences, History, Biography, Geography, Statistics, and General Knowledge, vol. 7, New York: The Standard American Publishing Company, p. 2572
  15. Reprinted by Post-era Books, Arcadia, CA, 1985.
  16. ^
  17. .
  18. ^ "Linotype at 50", Time, July 13, 1936, archived from the original on December 15, 2008, retrieved 2009-01-07
  19. , retrieved 2009-01-07
  20. ^ Spear, Michael (August 15, 1996), The Linotype Machine: Thomas Edison called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World", archived from the original on January 9, 2009, retrieved 2009-01-07
  21. ^ "Boston Stock Market: Financial Notes.", The New York Times, October 20, 1910, retrieved 2009-01-07
  22. ^ "Abraham Lincoln Letter Signed Signed to Samuel Chase | Raab Collection". The Raab Collection. 10 May 1861. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
  23. ^
    JSTOR 40067107
    .
  24. ^ Sweet, Andy. "Carslogie House | Castle in Cupar parish, Fife | Stravaiging around Scotland". www.stravaiging.com. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  25. ^ "Carslogie House | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
  26. JSTOR 40067199
    .
  27. .
  28. .
  29. , retrieved 2009-01-15
  30. ^ "MRS. JAMES O. CLEPHANE.", The New York Times, p. 21, February 1, 1935