Emily E. Tassey

[2] Emily Evans Rowland was born on December 15, 1823, to a father who was a merchant and owner of a textile mill, a general store and a post office in the town of McKeesport, located east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

They had three children but her husband died unexpectedly in 1857 while on a trip to Tennessee, so Tassey returned to teaching in the public schools in Pittsburgh and McKeesport.

Due largely to the dominant influence of the local steel mill works and supporting industries, river traffic was brisk, carrying coal, ore, coke and finished-steel products.

In addition, the region's first dry-docks were built in McKeesport in 1836 to repair river craft, thus offering Tassey a natural environment for inventing improvements in marine technology.

In only four years, from 1876 to 1880, she would earn five patents—all related to marine technology and propulsion systems[1] in spite of the history of the invention field in 1880 when "women comprised a scant 1-2% of all patent recipients.