Before all the fancy emoji’s were implemented, Sideways and Upright Latin-only emoticons and single-line art and portraits was mainly used in Western style emoticons. For example \o/* = Cheerleader
o7 was originally used to depict someone scratching their head - being confused.
07 was originally used to depict someone saluting another person - showing respect.
Anyway, emoticons such as those actually originated on the PLATO IV computer system in 1972.
EDIT:
Considering the fact that commercial typewriters were first introduced in 1874 and become commonplace in offices after the mid-1880s and then standardized in early 1900’s, those symbols were probably even done back then. Thanks to the Internet being commercialized in late 1980’s early 1990’s, those symbols are now known publicly due to message boards and social media platforms.