The Washington times., 1925-02-10
EDISON IS IDOL
Or NATIVE
Town
Milan, Ohio, Always Aonors
Birthday Of Electrical
Inventor

sANDUsKY, Ohio, Feb. To- Doubt
less Thomas Alya Edison is think
ing little and caring less that
Wednesday. February IL, Is his
birthday anniversary; but there are
others who will not permit him TO
overlook the fact. Many of the
latter live In the little village Of
Milan, fourteen miles southeast OF
this city, In this Erie county,
where, February IL, 1847, Mr..
Edison was born.
Odessa Of the West was a
name that once was Afilan's, be-
cause there were large ware.
houses there in which the wheat of
rich agricultural country, extend
ing many miles to the south, was
held for shipment by boat to Va.
rious Great Lakes region ports and
thence to mills to be made into
flour. at..r .f..
Industry Dies.
In due time. however Milan's
wheat shipping Indlistry became
but memory; 80 today MiIAn's
fame comes from the fact that
Thomas Al. Edison, scientific
wizard, was born there.
Edison,s birthplace is 4 little
brick house on Shoat street. in the
extreme northwesterh outskirts Of
Milan. The site is on the crest Of
a bluff overlooking the river and
q valley through which 1t runs be-.
low. The bluff Is known FAR and
near as the Hog Back for,
viewed from the galley, 1t appears
to resemble giant hog -as
they say in Milan.
Those who knew Mr.. Edison D
parents-Samuel and Nancy EdI.
son-as residents Of Milan, have
passed away, so all that there is
tors berth and early childhood must
come by hearsay.
New Edison Bell.
The resident OF Milan who. per.
haps, knew Mr.. Edison best in
childhood, was Mrs. Nancy WAds-
worth, cousin, one OF the wiz
ards favorites, to whom he wrote
frequently az long as she lived.
and every now and then sent her
presents and photographs Of him
self
Mrs. wadsworth was thirteen
years old when Mr.. Edison was
born. and she lived in the house
in which Edison was born from
the time he bought 1t, in 1884, un-
TIL her death two years ago last
October,
According to Mrs. Wadsworth.
Edison was q sickly child and, un-
til he was past ten, caused his
parents a great deal Of concern.
He contracted bad colds" easily
and gave reason to believe that he
would get consumption" as she
said, and never grow up"
The inventor of today was about
six years old when the Edison
family left Milan, moving to Port
Huron, Michigan. where the father
saw promises for the future that
Milan did not hold forth.
1t was at Port Huron that Mr..
Edison first became interested In
electricity"
Often Visited Sister.
From Port Huron Edison. up to-
the time he was ten years old, re!
turned to Milan every now and
then to visit a sister, the late Mrs.
Hiram Page, whose husband was q
farmer living at Pages Landing,
south Of Milan, on the Huron
river.
While Milan has a strong. claim
on Mr.. Edison, other Ohio cities
have stronger claims than mere
State relationship.
AS a young man in his twenties
Mr.. Edison went to work in the
Cincinnati offices OF the Western
Union Telegraph Company. as an
operator, having-as he believed,
al least--mastered telegraphy.
At the telegraph office, he was
often spoken OF as Sleepy Tom. 4"
William e. Reuter-, an electrical
supply man in Cincinnati, though
not old enough to know Edison as
a Cincinnati telegraph operator, re-
calls that it was said about the
Cincinnati Western Union office
that the Western Union ''fired
Sleepy Tom" because he had at
tempted to try his duplex idea" on
a company wire during meal.hour
shift.
His "Duplex Idea"
1t afterward developed that 1t
was in Cincinnati that Edison con
ceived the duplex idea which.
materialized, started him on the