(*Portrait and bio taken with permission from Michael
Sull’s SS&OP, Volume I)
Fielding Schofield
(1845-1924)
One of
the greatest offhand flourishing artists of the era was Fielding Schofield. He
had his peers in William E. Dennis, Clinton H. Clark, and John Williams, but
none were better. He was born at Poughkeepsie, New York on January 17, 1845. It
appears that Fielding inherited his artistic nature from his father, who by
profession was a designer of patterns for carpets and tapestries. Fielding
Schofield spent his youth working at various jobs: newsboy, errand boy, and a
worker in a chair factory. In his later teens, he secured a janitor's position
at the famous penmanship and business institution, Eastman College. By diligent
work, study and practice, he was promoted quickly to advertising agent for the
college, then assistant secretary, correspondent, and finally, instructor in
penmanship. At age 21 he moved to Chicago to work with H. B. Bryant, staying
for 2 years. He returned east in 1867 and worked in business education for 10
years at Warner's Polytechnic Institute in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1877,
he moved once again, this time to Newark, New Jersey, where he taught
penmanship for 5 years at the Coleman School. The year 1883 found Schofield
joining his former classmate, D. L. Musselman, at the Gem City Business College
in Quincy, Illinois. Here he was to remain for eight seasons, and it was during
this portion of his life that Fielding Schofield reached the pinnacle of his
skill as a penman. From 1883 to 1890 no one in the ranks of penmen surpassed
him in skill or ability to produce original designs. In 1891 he joined Mr. E. P
Herald in San Francisco. Shortly thereafter he moved back to the East. He did
some teaching, first in Utica, New York for three years, and then in several evening
schools in Boston. His health began to fail in his retirement years, and he
passed away at the age of 79, an undisputed master of the pen.
(**Image
below courtesy of Bob Hurford.)
