Johnson, Nancy Maria Donaldson, 1794-1890

Nancy Maria Donaldson Johnson married Walter Rogers Johnson (1794-1852) in Medfield, Massachusetts in 1823. The couple adopted two children, Walter W. Johnson (1836-1879) and Mary Maria Stroud (1834-1921). Walter Johnson was a scientist and the First Secretary for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She started as a housewife, and later went on to be a very successful inventor. Johnson lived in Philadelphia in 1843 when she filed for her patent for the first hand-cranked ice cream churn. Her simple invention launched a “disruptive technology” that made it possible for everyone to make quality ice cream without electricity. Starting in 1862, Johnson and her sister Mary taught freed slaves in South Carolina, as part of the Port Royal Experiment. She died in Washington, D.C., in 1890, aged 95.