Moshe Teitelbaum

Here we see another black velvet kippah, this one from the 18th Century.  So the modern-style kippah doesn't seem so much "modern" as "regional."  Although it doesn't surprise me that this ended up being the predominant style in America two hundred years later; this is where most American Jews came from.

Wikipedia article: 
DOB: 
1 759
Birthplace: 
Hungary