Octavius A. Dearing, who developed the “California” typecase, was born in East Buxton, York County, Maine, on September 28, 1840. On August 30, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, First Regiment of Maine Cavalry Volunteers, for service in the Civil War. On his enlistment papers he described himself as a “printer.” He developed varicose veins in both and was sent to the Harewood Hospital, in Washington, D.C. From there he was discharged, on December 21, 1862, for “total disability for military service.”

He found employment as a printer in Boston until 1869, when he came to San Francisco. The story of his stay in San Francisco was told in No. 3, March 1967, of this Occasional.

In his application to the Bureau of Pensions for a veteran’s pension, Dearing stated he had moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1895. He went there as manager of the Portland branch of the American Type Founders Company, which company had taken over the business of Palmer & Rey, San Francisco type founders, with whom Dearing had been associated for many years.

Dearing’s next move was to Corvallis, Oregon, where he became associated with the Gazette– Times of that city in 1903. He is listed on the masthead of that newspaper as “Business Manager and Editor” from November 13, 1903, to June 21, 1904.

It appears that ill-health may have prompted him to apply for a veteran’s pension, which he did in October 1904, and to enter the Old Soldiers’ Home, at Roseburg, Oregon. There he died of septicemia on December 14, 1907, at the age of 67 years.

In San Francisco, on January 11, 1882, Dearing was married to Miss Cordelia Murphy by Judge Frank M. Clough. To this marriage a daughter, Dorothy Marian Dearing, was born in Portland on June 29, 1896. Mrs. Dearing, after remaining in Portland a short time, removed to Santa Clara County, California, where she had lived before her marriage. She died there on July 16, 1932.

Dearing described himself, in his pension application dated October 18, 1904, as “Height—5 feet, 11 inches, weight—160 lbs.; color of eyes—hazel; color of hair-brown & gray; complexion—light.”

The information contained in this sketch has been gleaned, chiefly, from Pension File WX-667601, in the National Archives, General Services Administration, Washington, D.C.

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