Charles Ezra Sprague

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Volapük. (July 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Volapük Wikipedia article at [[:vo:Charles Ezra Sprague]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|vo|Charles Ezra Sprague}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Sprague, taken sometime in 1863 or 1864.

Charles Ezra Sprague (October 9, 1842 – March 21, 1912) was an American accountant, born in Nassau, Rensselaer County, New York. He was a proponent of the constructed language Volapük, for which he authored the first major textbook in English, Handbook of Volapük (1888), as well as an early organizer of the accounting profession.

During the American Civil War, Sprague served in the 44th New York Infantry, seeing action at the Battle of Gettysburg, where his unit was instrumental in helping repulse attacks on Little Round Top. The New York State Archives stores a lengthy article Sprague wrote on his military service.

He was president of both the New York Institute of Accounts and the Union Dime Savings Bank (which later became the Dime Savings Bank). Later in life, he was involved in the movement for reform of English spelling as part of the Simplified Spelling Board, of which he was the first treasurer.^[1]

He was heavily involved in the development of the first state certification of accountants in the United States.^[2]

In 1953 he was inducted into Ohio State University's Accounting Hall of Fame.

Sprague was the maternal grandfather of science fiction author L. Sprague de Camp.^[3]

Notes

^ "SIMPLE SPELLERS START WITH 300 PRUNED WORDS; They Want to Avoid Scaring People at First. NOT REFORMERS, THEY INSIST Col. Sprague Thinks Many Persons Object to the Term -- Some Publishers and Editors Enlisted.", The New York Times, March 13, 1906. Accessed August 28, 2008.
^ Miranti
^ De Camp, L. Sprague. "Talking to Ghosts." Article in The New York Times, April 7, 1985, p. SM38.

References

Miranti, Paul J. "Birth of a Profession". The CPA Journal. (1996). On-line version retrieved on 4 January 2008.
Rogers, Rodney K. "Sprague, Charles Ezra [1842-1912". History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1996. pp. 548–550. On-line version retrieved on 20 July 2011.

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Charles Ezra Sprague

Civil War service and biography
Works by or about Charles Ezra Sprague at Internet Archive
Works by Charles Ezra Sprague at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Sprague's Handbook of Volapük Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
Biography at OSU's Accounting Hall of Fame site Archived 2008-04-24 at the Wayback Machine