Hannah Slater (née Wilkinson; 1774–1812) was an early American inventor. Some sources state that she was the first American woman to receive a patent, however others state that Hazel Irwin, who received a patent for a cheese press in 1808, or Mary Kies, in 1809, was the first.
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Early life
Slater grew up in a Quaker family in Pawtucket, Rhode Island with two sisters, five brothers and parents Lydia and Oziel. Her father was a successful businessman and business partner of Moses Brown, who was in turn in business with Samuel Slater, an industrialist. Brown recommended the Wilkinson home as a suitable place for Samuel Slater to board when he arrived in the area in early 1790. At the time, Hannah was 15 years old.
Oziel and Lydia were initially against Hannah marrying someone who was not a Quaker; however they relented and on October 2, 1791, Hannah and Samuel were married. In the same year, Samuel opened his own mill in the area and began to build machinery for manufacturing textiles, modeled after the machines he was familiar with in England. This mill has been preserved as a historical site and is known as the Slater Mill Historic Site.