Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace is the historic house in which the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847. It is located at 9 Edison Drive in Milan, Ohio, in the United States. On October 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark. It is now the Edison Birthplace Museum.

History[edit]

	Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace ; Milan, Ohio
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
	Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace
Location	9 Edison Drive; Milan, Ohio
Coordinates	41°17′52.76″N 82°36′18.19″W / 41.2979889°N 82.6050528°W
Built	1841
NRHP reference No.	66000608
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966

The Edison family[edit]

In the 1730's, John Edison, great-grandfather of the inventor,farmed a large tract of land not far from West Orange, New Jersey. This is where Thomas A. Edison made his home 160 years later.

John Edison remained a Loyalist during the Revolution. Because of this, he was imprisoned and was, for a time, under sentence of execution. He was saved from this fate through the efforts of prominent Whig relatives.

John Edison's lands were confiscated, and the family migrated to Nova Scotia. The Edisons remained in Nova Scotia until 1811, when they moved to Vienna, Ontario.

Edison's grandfather, Captain Samuel Edison, served with the British in the War of 1812.

In Ontario, Edison's father, also named Samuel, met and married Nancy Elliott, a school teacher and daughter of Ebenezer Matthews Elliott, who was a captain in Washington's army. The younger Samuel became involved in another political struggle -- a much later and unsuccessful Canadian counterpart of the American Revolution known as the Papineau-MacKenzie Rebellion.

Upon the failure of this rebellion, Samuel was forced to flee across the border to the United States. After innumerable dangers and hardships, he finally reached the town of Milan, Ohio, where he decided to settle. In Milan, Samuel established himself as a manufacturer of roof shingles and sent for Nancy and their five children to join him.

                              BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS EDISON            BY:Sebastien j Bonnane

In the 1730's, John Edison, great-grandfather of the inventor,farmed a large tract of land not far from West Orange, New Jersey. This is where Thomas A. Edison made his home 160 years later.

John Edison remained a Loyalist during the Revolution. Because of this, he was imprisoned and was, for a time, under sentence of execution. He was saved from this fate through the efforts of prominent Whig relatives.

John Edison's lands were confiscated, and the family migrated to Nova Scotia. The Edisons remained in Nova Scotia until 1811, when they moved to Vienna, Ontario.

Edison's grandfather, Captain Samuel Edison, served with the British in the War of 1812.

In Ontario, Edison's father, also named Samuel, met and married Nancy Elliott, a school teacher and daughter of Ebenezer Matthews Elliott, who was a captain in Washington's army. The younger Samuel became involved in another political struggle -- a much later and unsuccessful Canadian counterpart of the American Revolution known as the Papineau-MacKenzie Rebellion.

Upon the failure of this rebellion, Samuel was forced to flee across the border to the United States. After innumerable dangers and hardships, he finally reached the town of Milan, Ohio, where he decided to settle. In Milan, Samuel established himself as a manufacturer of roof shingles and sent for Nancy and their five children to join him.

                                                    THE END

A Tour of the House[edit]

Entering the house by the side door, the tour starts in the sitting room. One of the family antiques in this room is a portable desk that belonged to Edison's uncle, Simeon Ogden Edison, who was once a resident of the house. Hanging on the wall above the portable desk is the mirror presented to Edison's oldest sister Marion on the occasion of her wedding to Homer Page here in 1849.

Opening out from the back of this room is the bedroom where Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847. The rope bed is decorated with a jacquard coverlet that was handmade in Ohio's Erie County in the 1840s.

The steep stairs opposite the front door lead to the two bedrooms on the second floor. The parents and the middle girls, Harriet and Eliza, slept in these rooms.

Much of the furniture, including the painted pine set and the walnut furniture in the parents' bedroom, the spinning wheel, and the set of six chairs in the parlor, belonged to Marion Edison Page. The knitted "thousand shell design" spread on the walnut bed is attributed to the inventor's mother, Nancy. The straight-back chair to the right of the bed is the type used by girls and women of the time while buttoning their shoes, which explains why the seat is so low to the ground.

Both closets in the Master Bedroom have been converted to display areas. Clothing that belonged to Edison and his wife is on exhibit in this space.

Back on the street-level floor, the north side of the house is taken up by the parlor and a small bedroom directly behind it.

Two pieces of Nancy Elliott Edison's own tea set and two of her coin silver spoons are displayed under the handmade glass dome in the parlor. Her portrait hangs to the left of the door leading to the small bedroom.

The room behind the parlor is now used for exhibits of Edisonia. Display cases contain various inventions, including a phonograph, a stock ticker, and a talking doll. Photographs of Edison with his family and of historic places related to Edison are also on display. A stairway at the back of this room leads down to the large basement kitchen.

Because the house was built into a hillside, the basement kitchen has a door to the backyard and several windows overlooking the flower garden. The kitchen is furnished with articles and utensils of the period. The wall clock was identified by Edison as the one which used to hang in the family kitchen and behind which his mother kept a disciplinary switch.

From the garden outside this room one can view the site of the Milan Canal turning basin. Volunteers from the local 4-H club planted the flower garden. In addition, the Milan Gardening Club maintains a garden next door, behind the building that serves as the museum shop.

               --98.203.74.129 (talk) 20:49, 31 January 2012 (UTC)        BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS EDISON            BY:Sebastien j Bonnane        --98.203.74.129 (talk) 20:49, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

In the 1730's, John Edison, great-grandfather of the inventor,farmed a large tract of land not far from West Orange, New Jersey. This is where Thomas A. Edison made his home 160 years later.

John Edison remained a Loyalist during the Revolution. Because of this, he was imprisoned and was, for a time, under sentence of execution. He was saved from this fate through the efforts of prominent Whig relatives.

John Edison's lands were confiscated, and the family migrated to Nova Scotia. The Edisons remained in Nova Scotia until 1811, when they moved to Vienna, Ontario.

Edison's grandfather, Captain Samuel Edison, served with the British in the War of 1812.

In Ontario, Edison's father, also named Samuel, met and married Nancy Elliott, a school teacher and daughter of Ebenezer Matthews Elliott, who was a captain in Washington's army. The younger Samuel became involved in another political struggle -- a much later and unsuccessful Canadian counterpart of the American Revolution known as the Papineau-MacKenzie Rebellion.

Upon the failure of this rebellion, Samuel was forced to flee across the border to the United States. After innumerable dangers and hardships, he finally reached the town of Milan, Ohio, where he decided to settle. In Milan, Samuel established himself as a manufacturer of roof shingles and sent for Nancy and their five children to join him.

                                                    THE END

[edit] A Tour of the House