Martha Jones

Summary

Martha Jones of Amelia County, Virginia was granted US Patent 77,494 on May 5, 1868 for an “Improvement in corn-husker, sheller” — a machine that husked, shelled, cut husks, and separated them from grain in one operation. Hers is the earliest currently identified US patent by a Black woman; because 19th-century patent records did not record race, that attribution is sourced historical belief rather than patent-document fact. Beyond the patent, her biography is essentially undocumented: no birth or death dates are known.

Focus areas: Patents · Women inventors · Virginia

At a glance

Field

Patents · Women inventors

Location

Amelia County, Virginia

About the “first” claim

Jones is widely called the first Black woman to receive a US patent. The precise statement is that hers is the earliest currently identified such patent (US 77,494, 1868). Nineteenth-century patent records did not record race, so the attribution is sourced historical belief rather than patent-document fact, and earlier patentees may yet be identified.

References · in priority order

1. US Patent 77,494 (1868)patents.google.com/patent/US77494A/en
2. IPWatchdog on Martha Jonesipwatchdog.com/2021/02/01/better-way-husk-marth…

Sources

• Of Amelia County, Virginia; granted US Patent 77,494 on May 5, 1868, 'Improvement in corn-husker, sheller' — a machine husking, shelling, cutting husks, and separating them from grain in one operationGoogle Patents
• Hers is the earliest currently identified US patent by a Black woman; 19th-century patent records did not record race, so the attribution is sourced belief, not patent-document factHistory.com
• Beyond the patent, her biography is essentially undocumented; no birth or death dates are knownIPWatchdog