The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1913-07-25
INVENTED THE TYPEWRITER
First Machine for Writing Work of
John Pratt, of Alabama, Who
Moved There From Union
District, S. c.

; "a
Cherokee county, Alabama, who de.
veloped the writer's cramp, the Unit
ed States owes the invention of the
typewriter. His remains now rest
near his log house on the Center
Leesburg road practically unknown
by the passerby.
Claude NJ. Hall, of Birmingham,
has lately inaugurated a campaign to
revive interest in the memory of the
inventor and hopes the result will be
the rearing of a monument over the
lonely grave of the genius. His plan
involves small subscriptions by users
of the typewriter throughout Ala
bama and even the nation.
R. B. Smyer, of Birmingham, mar
rled Mr.. Pratt's niece. The story of
Mr.. Pratt's struggles to have his in
vention made into practical instru-
ment and his final success, of which
| others came near to absolutely de-
priving him, is told in the following
article penned by Editor Shropshire.
of the Coosa River News, published
at Center, Ala. 1t reads as follows:
Sketch of His Life.
There are two or three other claim
ants for the distinction of inventing
the typewriter, but the honor belongs
to Center man by name of John
Jonathan Pratt, who died in Chatta-
nooga, Tenn, on Saturday, June "a,
1905. He was IA years of age at the
tim eof his death. BY birth he was
South Carolinian. He came to Cen
ter in 1850 from Union District, S.
c. He resided in Center until fifteen
years before his death, moving to
Brooklyn, N. Y, about 1890. Two
years before his death Mr.. Pratt
moved to Chattanooga. This prelim-
mary information was elected by the
following personal inquiry:
Birmingham, Ala, October 5,
1912.
"Mr. T. H. Shroushire, Center, Ala.
Dear Tol: l certainly would be glad
if you will print in the News his
tory of the John Pratt typewriter. I
have a lot of friends in Birmingham
who would be glad to read it. I claim
he 1kwas the original inventor-ef' any
Ss4 al typewrfteFs-that is, the first
one in existance. Am right? Re-
member having read it in the News
at one time, but have forgotten
whether he was the original inven-
tor or not
Claude M Hall
"Boyle's Store"
On December 10, 1857, Mr. Pratt
was appointed register in chancery
of Cherokee county and held the job
until February %, 1864. He had
been working on a machine before
this, but while register, he took
writer's cramp and declared that he
would invent typewriter to save
such suffering. He fixed machine
that worked earlier, but did not be-
gin the active sales of the invention
until 1867, in London, England
Visited England.
He borrowed $4,000 from an aunt
Miss Elizabeth Herndon, who re-
| sided in South Carolina-in 1866, or
| 1867, to finance the operations and
| perfect patents both here and in the
states of Europe. However, he made
his first trip to London early in the
civil war and on this very particular
work While in England his machine
excited a great deal of comment in
London papers and their description
attracted the attention of Messrs.
Scholes and Glaudden, of Milwaukee,
who straightway invented" the
worldwide Remington machine. Be-
fore taking leave for Europe, in 1866
he entered into contract with some
parties in Memphis, Tenn, to perfect
patents at Washington, and to man.
ufacture his machine. They violated
the contract and upon his return
from abroad he met Mr.. Hammond,
wealthy merchant of New York,
who agreed to defeat the Memphis
men, which he did, under considera-
tion of Pratt's allowing him (Ham-
mond) to manufacture the typewriter
under the name of Hammond.
Retained ON Salary.
Mr.. Hammond then kept Pratt in
his employ until death at $4,000 per
annum and also gave him SO cents
royalty on all machines sold. Both
the Remington and Hammond type