Benjamin Dearborn

Benjamin Dearborn (1754–1838) was an American printer and mechanical inventor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[11] While in Portsmouth he also ran a school; organized an "intelligence office;" sold Beverly Corduroy, India goods, real estate; and attempted a singing group.

[12][13] Along with Paul Revere, Jeremy Belknap and others, he founded "The Committee on Machines" of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society in 1794.

[16] In 1818 he "invented a mode of propelling wheel carriages by steam, well calculated for the conveyance of the mail and any number of passengers, and which will be perfectly secure from robbers on the highway.

[18] He was a member of the American Philosophical Society[19] and the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association;[20] and a benefactor of the Boston Dispensary (now Tufts Medical Center).