Jan Ernst Matzeliger
#157,674 Most Popular
About
Dutch Guyana-born shoemaker who invented a machine that allowed for the production of up to 700 pairs of shoes per day.
Before Fame
He was a sailor during his teenage years, and he later moved to the United States where he worked at the Harney Brothers Shoes Factory.
Trivia
He suffered from tuberculosis and died in Massachusetts at the age of 37.
Family Life
He was the Dutch-Surinamese son of an engineer and a slave.
Associated With
He and street lamp creator Charles Brush were both important 19th-century inventors.
