chapter02.txt

CHAPTER II







EDISON'S PEDIGREE







THOMAS ALVA EDISON was born at Milan



Ohio, February 11, 1847. The State that rivals



Virginia as a "Mother of Presidents" has evidently



other titles to distinction of the same nature. For



picturesque detail it would not be easy to find any



story excelling that of the Edison family before it



reached the Western Reserve. The story epitomizes



American idealism, restlessness, freedom of individual



opinion, and ready adjustment to the surrounding



conditions of pioneer life. The ancestral Edisons



who came over from Holland, as nearly as can be



determined, in 1730, were descendants of extensive



millers on the Zuyder Zee, and took up patents



of land along the Passaic River, New Jersey,



close to the home that Mr. Edison established in



the Orange Mountains a hundred and sixty years



later. They landed at Elizabethport, New Jersey,



and first settled near Caldwell in that State, where



some graves of the family may still be found. President



Cleveland was born in that quiet hamlet. It is



a curious fact that in the Edison family the



pronunciation of the name has always been with the



long "e" sound, as it would naturally be in the



Dutch language. The family prospered and must



have enjoyed public confidence, for we find the name



of Thomas Edison, as a bank official on Manhattan



Island, signed to Continental currency in 1778.



According to the family records this Edison, great-



grandfather of Thomas Alva, reached the extreme



old age of 104 years. But all was not well, and, as



has happened so often before, the politics of father



and son were violently different. The Loyalist movement



that took to Nova Scotia so many Americans



after the War of Independence carried with it John,



the son of this stalwart Continental. Thus it came



about that Samuel Edison, son of John, was born at



Digby, Nova Scotia, in 1804. Seven years later John



Edison who, as a Loyalist or United Empire emigrant,



had become entitled under the laws of Canada to a



grant of six hundred acres of land, moved westward



to take possession of this property. He made his



way through the State of New York in wagons drawn



by oxen to the remote and primitive township of



Bayfield, in Upper Canada, on Lake Huron. Although



the journey occurred in balmy June, it was necessarily



attended with difficulty and privation; but the new



home was situated in good farming country, and once



again this interesting nomadic family settled down.







John Edison moved from Bayfield to Vienna, Ontario,



on the northern bank of Lake Erie. Mr. Edison



supplies an interesting reminiscence of the old man



and his environment in those early Canadian days.



"When I was five years old I was taken by my father



and mother on a visit to Vienna. We were driven



by carriage from Milan, Ohio, to a railroad, then to a



port on Lake Erie, thence by a canal-boat in a tow



of several to Port Burwell, in Canada, across the lake,



and from there we drove to Vienna, a short distance



away. I remember my grandfather perfectly as he



appeared, at 102 years of age, when he died. In the



middle of the day he sat under a large tree in front



of the house facing a well-travelled road. His head



was covered completely with a large quantity of very



white hair, and he chewed tobacco incessantly, nodding



to friends as they passed by. He used a very



large cane, and walked from the chair to the house,



resenting any assistance. I viewed him from a distance,



and could never get very close to him. I remember



some large pipes, and especially a molasses



jug, a trunk, and several other things that came from



Holland."







John Edison was long-lived, like his father, and



reached the ripe old age of 102, leaving his son



Samuel charged with the care of the family destinies,



but with no great burden of wealth. Little is known



of the early manhood of this father of T. A. Edison



until we find him keeping a hotel at Vienna, marrying



a school-teacher there (Miss Nancy Elliott, in 1828),



and taking a lively share in the troublous politics of



the time. He was six feet in height, of great bodily



vigor, and of such personal dominance of character



that he became a captain of the insurgent forces



rallying under the banners of Papineau and Mackenzie.



The opening years of Queen Victoria's reign



witnessed a belated effort in Canada to emphasize



the principle that there should not be taxation without



representation; and this descendant of those



who had left the United States from disapproval of



such a doctrine, flung himself headlong into its



support.







It has been said of Earl Durham, who pacified



Canada at this time and established the present system



of government, that he made a country and marred



a career. But the immediate measures of repression



enforced before a liberal policy was adopted were



sharp and severe, and Samuel Edison also found his



own career marred on Canadian soil as one result of



the Durham administration. Exile to Bermuda with



other insurgents was not so attractive as the perils of



a flight to the United States. A very hurried



departure was effected in secret from the scene of



trouble, and there are romantic traditions of his



thrilling journey of one hundred and eighty-two



miles toward safety, made almost entirely without



food or sleep, through a wild country infested with



Indians of unfriendly disposition. Thus was the



Edison family repatriated by a picturesque political



episode, and the great inventor given a birthplace on



American soil, just as was Benjamin Franklin when



his father came from England to Boston. Samuel



Edison left behind him, however, in Canada, several



brothers, all of whom lived to the age of ninety or



more, and from whom there are descendants in the



region.







After some desultory wanderings for a year or two





along the shores of Lake Erie, among the prosperous



towns then springing up, the family, with its Canadian



home forfeited, and in quest of another resting-place,



came to Milan, Ohio, in 1842. That pretty little



village offered at the moment many attractions as a



possible Chicago. The railroad system of Ohio was



still in the future, but the Western Reserve had



already become a vast wheat-field, and huge quantities



of grain from the central and northern counties



sought shipment to Eastern ports. The Huron



River, emptying into Lake Erie, was navigable within



a few miles of the village, and provided an admirable



outlet. Large granaries were established, and proved



so successful that local capital was tempted into the



project of making a tow-path canal from Lockwood



Landing all the way to Milan itself. The quaint old



Moravian mission and quondam Indian settlement of



one hundred inhabitants found itself of a sudden



one of the great grain ports of the world, and bidding



fair to rival Russian Odessa. A number of grain



warehouses, or primitive elevators, were built along



the bank of the canal, and the produce of the region



poured in immediately, arriving in wagons drawn by



four or six horses with loads of a hundred bushels.



No fewer than six hundred wagons came clattering in,



and as many as twenty sail vessels were loaded with



thirty-five thousand bushels of grain, during a single



day. The canal was capable of being navigated by



craft of from two hundred to two hundred and fifty



tons burden, and the demand for such vessels soon



led to the development of a brisk ship-building industry,



for which the abundant forests of the region



supplied the necessary lumber. An evidence of the



activity in this direction is furnished by the fact



that six revenue cutters were launched at this port



in these brisk days of its prime.







Samuel Edison, versatile, buoyant of temper, and



ever optimistic, would thus appear to have pitched



his tent with shrewd judgment. There was plenty



of occupation ready to his hand, and more than one



enterprise received his attention; but he devoted



his energies chiefly to the making of shingles, for



which there was a large demand locally and along



the lake. Canadian lumber was used principally in



this industry. The wood was imported in "bolts"



or pieces three feet long. A bolt made two shingles;



it was sawn asunder by hand, then split and shaved.



None but first-class timber was used, and such shingles



outlasted far those made by machinery with their



cross-grain cut. A house in Milan, on which some



of those shingles were put in 1844, was still in excellent



condition forty-two years later. Samuel Edison



did well at this occupation, and employed several



men, but there were other outlets from time to time



for his business activity and speculative disposition.







Edison's mother was an attractive and highly



educated woman, whose influence upon his disposition



and intellect has been profound and lasting.



She was born in Chenango County, New York, in 1810,



and was the daughter of the Rev. John Elliott, a



Baptist minister and descendant of an old Revolutionary



soldier, Capt. Ebenezer Elliott, of Scotch



descent. The old captain was a fine and picturesque



type. He fought all through the long War of Independence



--seven years--and then appears to h...