Case, Orlando Dwight (sold)

Orlando Dwight Case (August 17, 1826 - January 21, 1903) was an American inventor and book publisher. Born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, Case's father was a farmer and he grew up on the family homestead in West Simsbury, then known as Canton. He helped his father and brothers work the farm, but realized as he grew up that he did not possess the constitution to succeed as a farmer. He spent his time not working in the farm canvassing for books and teaching in the district school, where the conflict between 'whether the big boys or the teacher should run the school' reigned. Case lost two brothers, his only sister, and his mother to tuberculosis over an eight year period. Case moved to Hartford in 1849 and sent into business with H. H. Hawley and Company, a book and map publisher. The following year, Case formed a partnership with his uncle Newton Case and formed O. D. Case and Company in Hartford. The business operated for the next fifty-two years and mostly published subscription books and wall maps for schools. One of their most popular books, The American Conflict by Horace Greeley, would have sold even more copies had Greeley not sighed Jefferson Davis's bail bond and dissatisfied so many of the subscribers. Case became the eastern agent for a Chicago-based school furniture factory in 1875, and several years later he opened his own school furniture factory in Sandisfield, which operated for twenty-two years. At this point he began working his way out of of the publishing trade. Case married Marry L. McDonnell of New York City in 1859, with whom he had four children. Case died of a heart attack in his office on January 21, 1903.