Robert Fulton
Engineer
American engineer who invented the first commercially successful steamboat. He is also credited with inventing some of the world's earliest naval torpedoes for use by the British Navy.
He painted portraits and landscapes, drew houses and machinery in philadelphia and sent home the profits from his paintings to his mother.
His first commercial steamboat, the North River Steamboat, traveled from New York City to Albany, New York and made this 150 mile trip in 32 hours.
He married Harriet Livingston in 1806 and had four children with her.
He was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to design a practical submarine for Bonaparte's army.