Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The name Singer is now almost synonymous with the sewing machine, but there were other pioneers in the field before Isaac Singer made the first effective machine the people bought to use in their own homes.… Isaac Merrit Singer came from a German family originally called Reisinger, who immigrated to the United States in the 1760s.… When he died in his 60s in 1875, he was worth more than $13 million. His company went on to make the first electric sewing machines in 1889." [1001 Days]"Elias Howe, a journeyman machinist in Boston, patented a sewing machine in 1846." [Howe: What Hath God Wrought, p. 534]