Thomas Alfa Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas's three older brothers and sisters died before he was born from very harsh winters. He had brother named Pitt and two sisters named Marion and Harriet Ann. His parents named him Thomas because of his great uncle.

When he was young, everyone called him Al. Al asked a lot of questions and was VERY curious. When young Thomas was six, he started a fire in his father's barn and burned it to the ground. He was charged with arson. To show that he was truly sorry, Samuel Edison spanked his son in front of the whole town the next day. Thomas was very embarrassed.

Sam was afraid that his son had no feelings because when Thomas was at the creek, his friend drowned and he showed no emotion. Al's teachers thought that he could not learn and was stupid, and when his teachers told Nancy Edison, she became very mad and decided to teach Thomas herself. Thomas's mother bought him the Dictionary of Science, and he read it all. After that, all of his allowance was spent buying chemicals at the drug store.

Before Thomas Alva Edison was ten, he had already read History of England, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, History of the World, and The Age of Reason. When he was eleven, he made his own telegraph set from a picture in a book. Then and there, he decided he wanted to become a telegrapher. At age twelve, he started selling candy on trains to people riding.

When he was 13, he was running behind a train, trying to catch it, when a man snatched his ear and pulled him up onto the train by his ears. Right then, he started to slowly become deaf. Another time, at 15, Thomas saw a boy on a train track, and a train was heading right for him. Al swept by, grabbing the boy, and put him on the grass. The boy's father was so happy, he taught Thomas telegraphy in reward.

When Thomas Edison was 21, he experimented with everything. He was fired from his job at the Boston Telegraph Service because he became bored and started playing jokes on his boss. On May 1, 1869, Thomas received a patent for a vote recording machine, but once it was invented, no one wanted it.
Later, Thomas invented a device that would control errors in stock tickers, and engineers liked it. He wanted at the most, $5,000 for it, but he kept quiet and the engineers offered him $40,000. When Thomas brought his check to the bank, the teller began to yell at him, because he could not hear. He took his check and got out of line. Al went back to the engineer's office and the engineer identified him to the teller, and Thomas had his money, which he spent all on shop equipment.

One day, Thomas Edison saw a lady standing out in the rain, and he fell in love with her. Her name was Mary Stilwell. He offered her a job in his lab, and she accepted. He taught her Morse code, and married her. After the wedding, Thomas went to see the new stock tickers. Mary spent her wedding day alone. The next day, Thomas took Mary to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon and Mary took her sister because she was so upset about Thomas leaving on their wedding day. The telephone was invented a short time later by Alexander Graham Bell. Engineers asked Thomas if he could improve it, and he tried. He invented the first phonograph, and everyone loved it. Mary later had two baby girls: Madeline, and Dot. After his daughters were born, his hard work finally had paid off. He had invented something that would change the world and technology forever.

Thomas Alva Edison had invented the light bulb. He installed a lighting system in New York, and lit it up. Everyone thought that Thomas was a wizard, and gave him the name "Wizard of Menlo Park". After his invention of the light bulb, Mary had two baby boys: Junior and Will. Mary died of Typhoid fever on August 9, 1884. Thomas was sad, but a short time after, he married a young woman named Mina Miller. On their wedding day, he was 38, and she was 22. The next day, they took Thomas's first actual vacation. They went to Paris. Mina had a baby boy named Charles, and a year later, she had another boy, Theodore. After the birth of his sons, he had invented the motion picture. America was so astounded, they named him the American Wizard.

Thomas Alva Edison died a short time later on October 21, 1931 at age 84. He was buried under an oak tree in Glenmont. The United States were so sad, they turned off their power for one minute and prayed throughout the whole United States for a tribute to Thomas Alva Edison.