GM – FBF – Today I want to share a story with you about an Inventor that created something that is used by millions of people every day. Like most you jus use it and never really think about its beginning. Enjoy!

Remember – “ I wanted to make my work a little easier so I thought about it and said done” – Sarah Boon

Today in our History – September 6, 1904 -Sarah Boone Inventor of the Ironing Board dies.

Sarah Boone (1832–1904) was an African American inventor who on April 26, 1892, obtained United States patent rights for her improvements to the ironing board. Boone’s ironing board was designed to improve the quality of ironing sleeves and the bodies of women’s garments. The board was very narrow, curved, and made of wood. The shape and structure allowed it to fit a sleeve and it was reversible, so one could iron both sides of the sleeve. Along with Miriam Benjamin, Ellen Eglin, and Sarah Goode, Boone was one of four African American women inventors of her time who developed new technology for the home.

Sarah Marshall was born in Craven County, North Carolina, near the town of New Bern in January 1st 1832. She was a former slave. On November 25, 1847, in New Bern, she married James Boone (or Boon); they would have eight children.

The Boone family left North Carolina for New Haven, Connecticut, before the outbreak of the American Civil War; they settled into a house at 30 Winter Street. James Boone worked as a brick mason until his death on January 18, 1876 while his wife was listed in New Haven directories as a dressmaker.

Sarah Marshall Boone died in 1904 and is buried in a family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven. Research more about women Inventors and share with your babies. Make it a champion day!