James O. Clephane

James Ogilvie Clephane (February 21, 1842 – November 30, 1910) was an American inventor, bar-admitted stenographer who served in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, private secretary to Secretary of State William Seward, and venture capitalist in both Washington, D.C., and New York City. James O. Clephane led the funeral procession of his friend and employer, President Abraham Lincoln, down Pennsylvania Avenue as a civic marshal, and was followed by "three hundred marshals and assistant marshals, eleven Major-Generals, eighty-four Brigadier- Generals, twelve hundred other military officers, one hundred and fifty naval officers including Vice Admiral Farragut, and one hundred and eight Senators and mem- bers of Congress. In the procession were eighteen thousand. The witnesses were estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand."

Clephane 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. He is known as the "unsung hero of the development of the typewriter and Linotype."