Mary Dixon Kies (March 21, 1752 – 1837) was an American inventor. On May 5, 1809, her patent for a new technique of weaving straw with silk and thread to make hats was signed by President James Madison.[1]
Some sources say she was the first woman to receive a US Patent,[2][3] however other sources cite Hannah Slater in 1793,[4][5][6] or Hazel Irwin, who received a patent for a cheese press in 1808,[7][4] as the first.
Mary's father, John Dixon, was a farmer born in 1679 in Ulster, Ireland. Her mother, Janet Kennedy, was John Dixon's third wife. They had married in Voluntown, Connecticut on August 7, 1741.
Mary Dixon was born in Killingly, Connecticut on March 21, 1752. She married Isaac Pike I, and in 1770 they had a son, Isaac Pike II. After his death she married John Kies (1750–1813) who died on August 18, 1813, at age 63. She then lived with her second son, Daniel Kies, in Brooklyn, New York, until her death at age 85 in 1837.[8]
Because of the Napoleonic Wars, the United States had embargoed all trade with France and Great Britain, creating a need for American-made hats to replace European millinery. The straw-weaving industry filled the gap, with over $500,000 ($9 million in today's money) worth of straw bonnets produced in Massachusetts alone in 1810.[9]
Mary Kies received her patent on May 5, 1809, for a new technique of weaving straw with silk and thread to make hats.[10][11]
The hats produced with this technique were sturdier than others, because Kies’ method of using silk instead of straws in the seam held the cross-hatching together. Also, the hat-making method she introduced was highly cost-effective; thus, a lot of businesses in the hat-manufacturing market adopted it, after Kies’ patent was burned in the fire of the Patent Office in 1836.[12]
Even though there was an estimated profit of $500,00 (now worth $4.7 million) made from straw hat manufacturing, Kies made very little profit from her sales.[13][14]
