Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, Thomas Edison was not born into poverty in a backwoods mid-western village. He was born, on Feb. 11, 1847, to middle-class parents in the bustling port of Milan, Ohio: a community that, next to Odessa, Russia, was the largest wheat shipping center in the world. In 1854, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, which was also an up and coming shipping center.

Not long after young Tom - who was called "Al" in his earliest years - learned to talk, he began pleading with people he met to give him their explanation of how everything worked. If they said they didn't know, he would stare into their face with his deeply set and vibrant blue eyes and ask them "why?"

At age seven - after spending 12 weeks in a one room schoolhouse with 39 other students of all ages - Tom's overworked short tempered teacher lost his patience with the child's persistent questioning and relatively self centered behavior. When the Port Huron school board representative made a routine visit, it was noted that Tom appeared to be somewhat "addled" or mentally unstable.

In 1860, Tom's career of producing and selling newspapers on a train came to an abrupt end when he and his press were literally thrown off the vehicle by an "unsympathetic" associate of the railroad company. Although deeply upset and confused by the incident, he continued to frequent the station area. One day, the station master's child happened to wander onto the tracks in front of an oncoming boxcar. Tom leaped to action. Luckily, he and the little boy ended up being only slightly injured as they tumbled over just beyond the oncoming wheels. As a reward for his heroism, the grateful father taught Tom how to use Morse code and the telegraph.

Thomas Edison died On Oct. 18th, 1931 in New Jersey at age 84. One the evening of the day that he was laid to rest, countless

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Weekly Herald, Newton's Principia, Union Edison, War Tom, Massachusetts Legislature, Rs Bible, Park NJ, Huron Michigan, Park Father, Thomas Edison, western union, thomas edison, human voice, shipping center, stearns bridden's, morse code, mid-19th century, bell inventing, inventing telephone, selling newspapers,