Ella Gaunt Smith

Entrepreneur

Birthday April 12, 1868

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace Roanoke, AL

DEATH DATE Apr 2, 1932 (63)

#61424 Most Popular

About

Her line of Ella Smith dolls became one of the hottest-selling toys in the early decades of the 1900s.

Before Fame

She was a seamstress, and she worked in repairing porcelain bisque dolls, eventually finding a way to make a virtually indestructible version.

Trivia

She patented her invention in 1901, and she introduced the dolls at the 1904 World's Fair, winning a blue ribbon.

Family Life

Her family was residing in Roanoke, Alabama, when she was born.

Associated With

She was selling her Alabama for as little as $1.15 a half a century before Eliot and Ruth Handler created their Barbie dolls.