Ainissa G. Ramirez
ANSONIA — A scientist in New Haven is attempting to flesh out the life of African-American inventor Sarah Boone, and the Valley may hold keys to finding missing pieces of the puzzle.
Boone, a dressmaker, was the daughter of former slaves in North Carolina.
She and her husband later moved to New Haven, where she successfully applied for a patent for an ironing board in 1892 at age 60 — even though she did not learn to read until she was well into her 40s.
Overall, though, little is known about Boone. She hasn’t joined the ranks of noted African-American inventors such as George Washington Carver or Garrett Morgan.
And she certainly is not the household name she should be in Connecticut.
That’s where Ainissa G. Ramirez, a materials scientist, writer and former Yale instructor comes in.
Ramirez is a “science evangelist.” And she’s been preaching Boone’s accomplishments for years.
Ramirez came across information about Boone while researching a book (The Alchemy of Us, scheduled to be released next year).
She learned of a Valley connection: two of Boone’s children, Lousia and William, moved to Ansonia once they were adults.
“Ansonia is key to the story of Sarah Boone and the Boones in general, because William’s family was the line of the family that grew,” Ramirez said. “Sarah Boone’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren lived in Ansonia. It isn’t clear that Sarah’s other children had kids.”
William, a veteran of the Civil War, was a bricklayer like his father.
He helped construct many buildings in New Haven and Ansonia, according to Ramirez.
“William and his family settled at 11 Silver Hill Road and were very popular in the town,” Ramirez said. “Some oldtimers I know say they remember a Boone family. William was Sarah Boone’s oldest.”
The youngest child, Louisa, was a dressmaker like her mother.
“I found her name in Census records and also in the Derby town directory,” Ramirez said, adding the Census records were from the early 1900s. “She worked out of her house on 76 Main Street. Louisa later moved to New Jersey and then returned to Connecticut.”
Ramirez said she found many papers indicating William was a resident of Ansonia, because he was a veteran, including a mention in a newspaper from when he tried to secure a pension for his military service from the federal government.
“All in all, the Boones were an upright family in Ansonia and the next generation of kids, particularly Maude Boone (William’s daughter), went to college at Southern,” Ramirez said.
In addition to newspapers, city directories and Censuses, Ramirez researched probate records.
“The search has only offered bits of information here and there, but Ansonia was definitely part of this story and might be key to getting a picture of Sarah Boone,” she said.
Speaking of pictures, Ramirez said that Boone’s Wikipedia page erroneously showed a picture of famous African-American sculptor, Mary Edmonia Lewis.
Those are the types of gaps she wants to fill — photos, more biographical information and the like.
Boone was born in North Carolina in 1832.
After Boone married her husband James, the couple moved to the Dixwell neighborhood in New Haven, a predominantly black area of the city, in the 1850s. She taught their three daughters to be dressmakers and how to be independent and work for themselves, according to Ramirez.
Boone’s work on the ironing board presented a problem that her invention would solve.
“When you wanted to iron your shirt in 1892, you’d get two chairs, put a plank on top of it, heat up your iron in the hearth or on the stove, then iron your shirt on top of the plank,” Ramirez said.
But she said the plank was too wide to iron tight fitting clothes, such as dresses with corsets underneath, as well as men’s waistcoats.
“Her ironing board is narrow, so you could iron thin sleeves,” Ramirez said, “and it’s padded, so clothing didn’t get the impression of the wood underneath it … and it’s collapsible. We have those same elements in our modern ironing boards.”
It was illegal to teach African-Americans to read and write, so slave owners could tighten their control over them, Ramirez said.
From U.S. Census information, Ramirez found Boone was not literate until her late 40s.
Boone was an active member of Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church, which had a history of teaching its members to read, so they could read the Bible, Ramirez said.
Ramirez said it was a remarkable achievement for Boone to, not only earn the patent by age 60, but to own a house as a woman and an African-American during her time period.
Ramirez said there is no evidence of Boone building a company or commercializing her invention, so she said she believes Boone saw getting the patent as the achievement.
“I definitely feel a connection to her,” Ramirez said of Boone. “I feel the streets I walked on, she certainly walked on.”
Ramirez grew up in New Jersey before moving to New Haven.
She said her first apartment was only two blocks from Boone’s home at 30 Winter St. Boone is buried at Evergreen Cemetery, off Ella Grasso Boulevard, where Ramirez drives by at least once a week on her way to work.
Ramirez said she has a responsibility to tell Boone’s story to more people.
Though Boone did not make it into Ramirez’s latest book, she hopes to publish something about the inventor in the future.
“I wrote a picture book about Sarah Boone and I’m in the process of sending it to different publishers and literary agents to see if they will publish it,” Ramirez said. “I think a longer book is needed about Sarah Boone and it’s going to take years, because so little is known about her. But I have enough for the children’s book for now.”
“That’s why I’m making an appeal to people in the Valley, asking if they have any information or know any Boones — anyone from the family,” Ramirez said. “It’s going to take some time.”
She encourages anyone with information on the Boone family to contact her through her website, ainissaramirez.com.
