Mary Kies: First U.S. Woman Granted a Patent

It was unusual for a woman to apply for a patent herself in the early 1800s. Even though the Patent Act of 1790 allowed for anyone, man or woman, to apply for a patent, women were still not allowed to legally own property independent of the husbands in many of the states. A patent is considered property. In many cases, women applied for, and received, patents in their husbands' names. Or women invented things, but didn't bother to get them patented.

Mary Kies did things a little differently in 1809.

She was born to John Dixon and Janet Kennedy (Dixon's third wife) in 1752 in Killingly, Connecticut. She married Isaac Pike I and they had a son, Isaac Pike II. After the death of Pike I, she married John Kies.

Kies invented a method of weaving straw with silk or thread. Though this may seem a mundane invention, it actually boosted the nation's economy during wartime.

At the time of Kies' invention, Napoleon was at war with Europe. He blocked trade to attempt to economically harm his adversaries. The United States did not wish to become involved in that conflict, so the U.S. government had ceased the importing of goods from Europe.

Straw hats were used for work bonnets, both by women in the field and men on work detail. The hats provided some protection from the sun and other elements.

Kies' technique of weaving straw with silk or thread made those straw hats more cost-effective as well as more useful. The cost-effectiveness of the process bolstered New England's faltering hat economy, greatly affected by the European embargo. Straw hats manufactured in Massachusetts in 1810 had an estimated value of more than half a million dollars.

New England's hat industry was one of the few which continued to prosper during the war of 1812.

Kies received praise from then First Lady Dolley Madison for her work.

Kies' weaving process was used extensively for over a decade.

Even so, Kies made no money from her patent. She died penniless at the age of 85 at the home of her son, Daniel Kies in Brooklyn, New York.

The epitaph of Mary Kies reads: "She obtained in May 1809 the first patent ever issued to a woman."[1]

[1] The Lawminatrix