Charles Edward Alden"Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCPX-K2G : 15 January 2020), Charles Edward Alden, 1864. (September 14, 1864 – June 30, 1923) was an American inventor mentioned in a 1906 edition of the New York World who was claimed to have created the idea of a vest pocket telephone, a device that was the precursor of the cell phone. An article titled “Ingenious Yankee Invents Simple Telephone System” appeared in the May 24, 1907 edition of L’Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans, a New Orleans newspaper. He envisioned the idea in 1906, 67 years before the first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973."TELEPHONE FOR YOUR VEST POCKET - Pilfers Messages from Wires Three Miles Off—is of the Wireless Variety" — New York World, April 29, 1906"Invents a telephone to be carried in pocket" ( May 21, 1906) Los Angeles Herald, Page 7, Columns 4-5. Article dated the previous day. Scanned by the University of California, Riverside. Preserved on the Internet by the Library of Congress. __TOC__ Early life and career Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts on September 14, 1864,"WIRELESS PHONE: Wonderful Invention of a Vineyard Resident Alden was the son of Maria (née Lewis) and John Alden. He attended Fairhaven High School, graduating in 1877. Some years later, he moved to New York and studied with sculptor Louis Saint-Gaudens. Later still, he was hired by that sculptor's better-known brother Augustus, whom he would assist on some of the latter's most famous works, including the Admiral Farragut Monument and the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common.
In 1907, Alden invented and tested a wireless remote-controlled boat off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. This boat was said to have “lifted its own anchor, blows its own whistle, signals, fires a gun and steers” all while the operator is controlling it on shore.
Death Alden died on June 30, 1923, aged 58, in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood."Massachusetts, State Vital Records, 1638-1927", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6PXD-2716 : Fri Jan 02 06:26:47 UTC 2026), Entry for Charles E Alden and John Alden, 30 Jun 1923. A service was conducted three days later for family and friends at Waterman's Chapel, located in Kenmore Square.
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