Christopher Latham Sholes

@Inventors, Birthday and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Christopher Latham Sholes was an American inventor American Inventors & Discoverers Aquarius Celebrities Christopher Latham Sholes was an American inventor. He is known as the "Father of the Typewriter" as he invented the QWERTY keyboard. Though he was not the first inventor of a device that aided in impressing letters mechanically on papers, as such inventions dated back as early as 1714 by Henry Mill followed by others, Sholes is considered to have developed the first practical and commercially successful typewriter. However he is often pitted with other inventors namely Carlos Glidden, Samuel W. Soulé, John Pratt and Frank Haven Hall as one of the inventors of this revolutionary device that brought evolutionary change in the world of printing letters. The way he arranged the mechanical bars containing alphabets or letters in a keyboard was called ‘QWERTY’. The first six keys placed in the upper left side of the keyboard arranged by him in that order i.e. Q, W, E, R, T, Y, are maintained as a standard practice till present not only for typewriters but also for many other modernized devices including personal computers, word processors, mobiles and other gadgets. A patent for a page-numbering machine was granted to him and Samuel W. Soulé in 1866 and that of a typewriter to him, Soulé and Carlos Glidden in June 1868. He later sold his patent rights to ‘E. Remington and Sons Company’ (presently ‘Remington Arms Company’) who eventually developed and marketed the ‘Remington Typewriter’ that soon captured a large market worldwide. He was also a publisher, politician and philosopher. He remained editor of ‘Wisconsin Enquirer’, ‘Milwaukee News’ and ‘Milwaukee Sentinel’. He served the state legislature and was inducted as Collector of Customs of the port of Milwaukee by President Abraham Lincoln.

Personal Details

Birthday: February 14, 1819 Died on: February 17, 1890 Nationality: American Famous: Discoverers, Inventor of the Qwerty Keyboard, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers Spouses: Mary Jane McKinney Birth Place: Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States Gender: Male Information Detail Birthday February 14, 1819 Died on February 17, 1890 Nationality American Famous Discoverers, Inventor of the Qwerty Keyboard, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers Spouses Mary Jane McKinney Birth Place Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States Gender Male Father Orrin Sholes Mother Catherine Sholes Sun Sign Aquarius Born in Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States Famous as Inventor of the QWERTY Keyboard Died at Age 71

Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States

Christopher Latham Sholes born at Unsplash Birth Place

In 1840 he married Mary Jane McKinney. They had ten children. Unsplash Personal Life

He suffered from tuberculosis from 1881 and finally succumbed to it on February 17, 1890. He was interred at Milwaukee’s ‘Forest Home Cemetery’. Unsplash Personal Life

He was born on February 14, 1819, in Mooresburg, in Montour County, Pennsylvania, to Orrin Sholes and Catherine Sholes. His father received a reward in the form of a land in Pennsylvania for service in the war during 1812. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1823 he moved with his family to Danville and attended the Danville School. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

After he finished school his father apprenticed him as a printer as his father did for all his sons. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1837 at the age of eighteen he moved to Green Bay in Wisconsin and began working for his elder brothers, Charles and Henry who became publishers of the newspaper ‘Wisconsin Democrat’. Unsplash Career

After two years he relocated to Madison in Wisconsin and started working as editor of the ‘Wisconsin Enquirer’ when his brother Charles bought shares of the newspaper. Unsplash Career

Thereafter he relocated to Southport (presently Kenosha) in Wisconsin and set up a weekly newspaper called ‘Southport Telegraph’ becoming its editor. Around 1845 while working with the newspaper he came to know about ‘Voree Record’, that is three small brass plates that were found by James J. Strang, a prospective successor of the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith. Unsplash Career

Strang’s insistence of his being the real prophet of God linking the incident of unearthing the plates and invitation to people at large to view them drew Sholes to meet the man and see the plates. Sholes wrote an article in this regard. Although he felt Stang to be "honest and earnest", he was unable to accept either the plates or prophetic claims of Strang. Unsplash Career

He embarked into politics and from 1848 to 1849 served ‘Wisconsin State Senate’ as member of ‘Democratic Party’, one of the two main contemporary political parties in the US. His brother Charles was also into politics and served ‘Wisconsin State Legislature’. Charles also remained mayor of Kenosha. Unsplash Career

Information	Detail
Birthday	February 14, 1819
Died on	February 17, 1890
Nationality	American
Famous	Discoverers, Inventor of the Qwerty Keyboard, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers
Spouses	Mary Jane McKinney
Birth Place	Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States
Gender	Male
Father	Orrin Sholes
Mother	Catherine Sholes
Sun Sign	Aquarius
Born in	Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States
Famous as	Inventor of the QWERTY Keyboard
Died at Age	71

Christopher Latham Sholes

American

Feb 14, 1819

Biography

Personal Details

Mooresburg, Montour County, Pennsylvania, United States