Densmore, James, manufacturer, was born in Moscow, N.Y., Feb. 3, 1820; son of Joel Densmore. He was educated at Allegheny college and in 1848 removed to Oshkosh, Wis., where he established the True Democrat, the first newspaper published in the northwest. In 1851 he removed to Hudson, Wis. where he published the Star. He was next associate editor of the Press, at St. Paul., Minn., and finally of the Free Democrat, at Milwaukee, Wis. In 1861 he removed to Meadville, Pa., and with his brother Amos engaged in the oil business until 1867, when he became interested in a writing machine, invented by Christopher Latham Sholes, who had been associated with him in editing the Free Democrat. Mr. Densmore gave to this machine the name "typewriter," and in company with George W. N. Yost devoted the remainder of his life to manufacturing typewriters, the Remington being the first machine put on the market by the firm of Densmore & Yost. He gave the name "caligraph" to an improved machine and a later improvement was named in his honor the Densmore typewriter. He was married in 1849 to Artelissa Finch of Crawford county, Pa., who died in 1854; and in 1864 to Mrs. Della R. Barron. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sept. 16, 1889.
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume III
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