The father of Thomas Alva Edison was born on August 16, 1804 in Nova Scottia. Samuel Augden Edison (Junior) was his name. Samuel was born in a lower middle class family and hence to make something of his life he had to struggle hard and long. For this very reason the Edison family had to migrate from Marshal Town, Nova Scottia Vienna, Ontario.
The wife of Samuel Edison was Nancy who was born in New Berlin, New York on January 4, 1808 in Mathews family. Two were married in Vienna in 1828. After marriage the newly wed couple came to Ontario. Samuel was not happy with the dictatorial rulers of Ontario. So, he joined an anti-government group. Edisons were leading a normal life at domestic level. To make a living Samuel had been trying his luck in several trades without achieving any significant success. Nancy was an intelligent and educated woman. Due to that fact the family made some progress.
On September 15, 1829 Samuel and Nancy were blessed with a girl child who was named Marion Walles Edison. In Vienna she was born. Two years later in November 5, 1831 arrived a son to be christened William Pitt Edison. Another girl Harriet Ann took birth on May 23, 1933. Nancy bore a fourth child, a male, called Carlysle S. Edison. His arrival was followed by a great upheavel in the Edison family. In the month of December, 1837 the family had to flee to USA for good from Nova Scottia. For the anti-government activities of Samuel the authorities had begun to persecute him and mark his family.
Samuel Edison had to leave his roots to settle down in Milan, Ohio (USA). The fifth child of the Edisons was born in Ohio on March 5, 1840. Samuel O. Edison was the name he was christened with. Then genetically spreading Edisons were struck by tragedies. On February 14, 1842 the fourth child of Edisons, Carlysle died. As the family was still in mourning for that loss the death again paid a visit to take away the youngest son, Samuel O. Edison on the black day of July 17, 1843. Now only one son and the two daughters survived.
Edisons got their sixth child, a girl in Eliza S. Edison. She was born on May 19, 1844.
Thomas A. Edison
The seventh child to arrive in the Edison family was Thomas Alva Edison, junior to four surviving siblings in brother William Pitt, sisters Marion, Harriet Ann and Eliza. Only two years after the birth of Thomas, his youngest sister Eliza died on December 18, 1848. Thus, out of seven only four children of Samuel and Nancy survived. The family of Edisons up to this point can be mapped as under :
EDISON FAMILY TREE (1829-1848)
Samuel Augden Edison, Junior (Father)
Birth—16-8-1804
NANCY MATHEWS ILLIOT EDISON (Mother)
Birth—04-01-1808
(Married in 1828)
Childhood years
Samuel Edison bore the responsibility of taking care of the needs of a large family. Naturally he remained preoccupied with the task to make both ends meet. As a father he did love his children but he had precious little time left for them after the toil to earn money for bread and butter for the family. Thus Nancy had to pay extra attention to the children in their upbringing. Young Thomas was greatly influenced by his mother as a result. But the family treated Samuel with great respect as he was its bread winner. When Thomas arrived two brothers were already dead and sister Eliza died later. Only four siblings were now surviving. Between them there was big age difference. Marion, the eldest was almost 18 years older than Thomas. Parents usually show extra attention to the youngest or the weakest child. So, naturally Thomas was the beneficiery of the greatest affection of the mother Nancy.
Thomas was born with some special innate talents and intelligence. He had one analytical mind and observed everything with very keen interest. By nautre he was a curious child who tried to analyse things through ‘question and answer’ process mentally. This curiosity element remained in Thomas all his life and led him into several discoveries and inventions. In the early phase of his life the family was passing through a difficult period which created some problems for Thomas in well as a collateral damage.
Hearing defect
Thomas Alva Edison had suffered from hearing defect at a very early stage of his life when he was merely a boy. There are several theories about the cause of this defect. Some biographers of U.S.A. claimed that it was due to the scarlet fever Thomas suffered in his childhood. At that point of time no reliable and effective treatment was available for scarlet fever. His ear got infected and the ear drum got damaged. Thomas had thus become partially deaf at the early age of 5 years only for not getting proper treatment. Besides this two other incidents are often mentioned in this respect.
The second incident is related to his teens. Thomas used to do his experiments on chemicals in the compartment of the conductor of a goods train. One day the chemicals caught fire and the angry train conductor is said to have landed a forceful slap on the ear of Thomas which caused him the hearing deficiency. The other incident too is related to train. It was circulated at later stage. Thomas is claimed to have tried to get on a moving train. The conductor helped him by pulling him up by his ear on to the train. The overstretching is said to have caused a tear in his eardrum resulting in his becoming hearing impaired.
When Samuel Edison shifted to Port Heuran, Michigan with his family Thomas was a seven year old boy. There Samuel had gained a contractual assignment in carpentry work. In the new environment Thomas faced problems that were beyond his mental compas or control. Being hearing deficient Thomas could not fully hear what the teachers said orally in the classes. It was not his fault. His classmates too used to taunt him and humiliate him in many ways. It turned Thomas into an introvert and he began to bunk classes as the class room had become a torture for him. There was no other alternative as no one showed sympathy or understanding to his problems. On the contrary even teachers called him idiot or mentally retarted. Thomas became totally disenchanted with school education. He went to school only for three months and then stopped. His mother provided solace and comfort. Later, he described that period in the following words—’My mother was the maker of me. She was so true, so true to me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint’.
It was Nancy who put a stop to her son Thomas going to school when she learnt how the poor boy was being mistreated there. Thomas began to study at home. The mother had great faith in her youngest son’s talent and desire for education. Her faith proved a great morale booster for Thomas and inspiration which he so explicitly admits in his above statement. At this stage young Thomas picked up the habit of reading books of knowledge, mostly related to scientific subjects. This studying proved a substitute for the primary schooling according P.G. Parker as revealed in his book School of Natural Philosophy of the Copper Union.
Nancy had taken a very timely and wise decision to emotionally protect her son from the break down. She decided to teach her son herself with loving care and understanding. There would be no schooling for Thomas. To the young Thomas the school was a horror house. Had Nancy not taken that decision you would not have been reading this book. In that act she had unwittingly saved a unique intellectual treasure of the mankind.
Initial struggles
Mother Nancy started teaching her seven year old hearing impaired son Thomas at home. By that time railway line had reached Port Heuran. From there to Detroit regular train service had started. That was the period when railway journey was a great entertainment for the kids. Thomas liked to travel besides studying at home. He liked to go to Port Heuran railway station and just watch trains arrive, stand or depart. This pass time gave Thomas the ideas that he could contribute something to improve the difficult financial state of his family.
He had observed various vendors earning money from the train passengers by selling various items. So, Thomas began to sell toffees and newspapers to passengers. And vegetables too he sold. He did the vending business from 7 to 9 years of age. May be, the business sense he evolved there went into later day founding of General Electric and 13 other companies. In the very childhood it was evident that Thomas had the courage for endeavour and entrepreneurship. The successful earing of money gave him self confidence as well. And he had the yen for reading and studying. He read several books on chemistry. The experiements in chemistry written in those books fascinated him so much that he set up a lab in the basement of his house. But it did not last long because the fumes emanating from the lab were giving trouble to Nancy. She felt discomforted by strange and tangy smells. The lab was closed down.
By and by Thomas had become a familiar name amongst the railway workers and staff. He got a small job as track boy in Grand Trunk Railway. Taking advantage of this facility Thomas set up a small chemical laboratory in an empty goods wagon. He was a twelve year old boy then. Meanwhile, Thomas started a weekly newspaper called Grand Trunk Herald Weekly. It used to publish railway time tables. Thomas continued to publish it till 1862. At the year end an incident occured which proved a turning point of the life of Thomas Alva Edison. May be, it was the work of destiny.
One day Thomas saw a three year old toddler fall on the railway track. It was Jimmy, the son of J.U. Mackenzie, a high railway official. Thomas rescued the child in a dare devil act from infront of an incoming train. Mackenzie was very impressed with the courageous act of young Thomas. He began to train Thomas in telegraph operator work. Thomas served as Roving Telegrapher in the Centre-West, South Canada and New England from 1862 to 1868. Meanwhile Thomas continued to develop his own telegraph receiver gadget. Due to his relentless attempts it became possible to automatically transmit messages on telegram receiver. At last, the talent of Thomas had found an expression through telegraph.
By 1869 Thomas had began to believe in himself and his capabilities. It inspired him to work to develop ‘Duplex Telegraph’ and the Message Printer gadgets, his future inventions. In 1866 Thomas was only 19 years old. He was working for Western Union stationed at Louisville, Kentucky. He asked for night shift duty to enable him to work on his inventive projects during day hours. But due to a very unfortunate incident he lost his job itself.
Infact, young Thomas was then experimenting on batteries. Sulphuric acid got spilled and the table of the superior of Thomas got damaged badly. The very next morning, the officer gave Thomas marching orders. The accident indirectly inspired him to dedicate his total time and attention to research, invention and entrepreneurship.
Here it would be appropriate to mention the name of his advisor of that period, Franklin Leonard Pope. He was the person who truly assessed the potential and talent of Thomas and set up arrangements for his stay and working. He also played the roles of fellow inventor of Thomas, an associate and friend too. During this period Thomas did his experiments in the lab set up in the basement of Franklin Pope’s house situated in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The early inventions of Thomas Edison were related to telegraphy which inclulded ‘Stock’ Sticker’. But officially his first invention was ‘Electric Vote Recorder Machine’ and is so recorded. It was registered as Patent no. 90649 of United States of America on June 1, 1869. Then, Thomas Edison was only 21 years old.
