"Mary Dixion Kies"(March 21,1752-1837)

was an early 19th-century American who was the first recipient of a patent granted to a woman by the United States Patent and Trademark office, on May 5,1809 which for which was for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.Her father was John Dixion born in 1679 in Ulster,Island.Her ,other was Janet Kennedy was the third wife of John Dixion.They had married in Voluntown Connecticut on August 7, 1741.John was a farmer.Mary Dixion was born in Killingly Connecticut.She married Isaac Pike 1,and had a son Isaac Pike 2.After his his death she married John Kies (1750-1813) who died on August 18,at age 63.She then went to live with her son,Daniel Kies in Brooklyn,New York where she died at the 85 in 1837.Straw weaving was an economically vital industry in America during the 1800s.Women wore straw hats for working in the field.The Patent Act of 1790 opened the door for anyone,male or female, to protect his or her invention with a patent.However because in many states women could not legally own property independent of their husbands,many women inventors didn't bother to patent their new inventions.Mary broke that pattern on May 5,1809.Mary was not the first American woman to improve hat-making.In 1798,New EnglanderBesty Metcalf invented a method of braiding straw.Her method became very popular,and she employed many women to make her hats,but she didn't patent her process.When asked why,Betsy said she didn't want her name being sent to Congress.Mary had a different perspective,and she couldn't have picked a better time to secure her new product,because the U.S.government  had stopped importing European goods.(Napoleon was at war with President James Madison was looking American industries to place the the lost European goods.Her technique proved valuable in making cost-effective work bonnets.In doing so she bolstered New England hat economy,which had been faltering due to the European embargo.Straw bonnets manufactured in Massachusetts alone 1810 had an estimated value of more than $500,000 or over $4.7 million in today's money.Dolly Madison honored her for this work.Her original patent file was destroyed in a fire at the United States Patient Office in 1836.Mary was unsuccessful in her attempts to profit from her invention,however,and died penniless in Brooklyn,New York in 1837.