James Ogilvie Clephane (February 21, 1842 – November 30, 1910) was an American court reporter and venture capitalist who was involved in improving, promoting and supporting several inventions of his 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 was largely due to his initiative.
James O. Clephane was born in Washington, D.C. to James Clephane and Ann Ogilvie in 1842. His father, James Clephane, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1790, and emigrated to America in 1817, was a printer and typographer who had assisted in setting up the first edition of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley while in Edinburgh, and was for some time the president of the Columbia Typographical union. His older brother, Lewis Clephane, served as the city postmaster, among other things.
James O. Clephane was a highly competent shorthand writer and developer of early shorthand writing systems. His exceptional ability brought him early in contact with such men as President James Buchanan and President Abraham Lincoln, who became his personal friends. He was a secretary to United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, and was then admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in the District of Columbia, where his duties were chiefly that of a stenographer. He was "one of the leading stenographers during the eventful days of the civil war and subsequently". He was called to testify at the trial of Andrew Johnson.