(Note: birth date given in original as "ca. 1847.") pioneer in Wisconsin telephone development, b. Orleans, N.Y. He attended Wood School of Telegraphy, Syracuse, N.Y., and, after working in various Midwestern cities, including Milwaukee and Watertown, settled in Janesville in 1866. There in 1872, with his brother, A. M. Valentine, he established the Valentine School of Telegraphy, operating the school until 1910. A pioneer in the telephone industry, Valentine installed the first switchboard in Wisconsin at Green Lake in 1878. At his death he was manager and principal owner of the Rock County Farmers' Telephone Co., a director of the National Independent Telephone Association, and treasurer of the Independent Telephone Association of America. For many years he was president of the Wisconsin Independent Telephone Association. Wis. Mag. Hist., 10; R. B. Way, Rock River Valley (3 vols., Chicago, 1926); Janesville Daily Gazette, June 1, 1925.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.

Learn More

Dictionary of Wisconsin History

Explore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.

[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]