Samuel Edison Sr., from Canada, was actually a captain of the First Middlesex Regiment which fought against the United States in the War of 1812. He retired from service in late 1814. His son Samuel Edison Jr. met his wife in Vienna, Ontario where they would have their first four children between 1829 and 1836. After taking part of a failed attempt to overthrow the Royal Canadian Government Samuel Jr. fled to the United States-the very country which his father had fought against. Samuel Jr. started to make a new life in Milan, Ohio. Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan February 11, 1847 the son of Samuel and Nancy Edison.

          Alva's inquisitive and curious mind became apparent during the early years of his life. When six years old, Alva had experimentally built a fire in his fathers barn which resulted in the barn burning to the ground. Several days later Alva received a whipping from his father in the Milan village square. The constant flow of questions from the young boy frequently irritated Samuel.

          After the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1955 Alva started attending school. It was a small one-room school lead by Reverend G. B. Engle. Alva had a hard time adjusting with school, and after several difficulties and incidents he refused to return. At this point Nancy Elliot Edison took Alva's education into her own hands. Nancy taught Alva daily with lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic. She also taught Alva to have a love for learning. During this time of being taught at home Alva picked up on reading quite frequently, and his advantage of great memory became evident.

          At about the age of nine, Alva picked up his first science book "Natural and Experimental Philosophy" by Richard Green Parker. By the time he was ten Alva had begun trying out many of the experiments mentioned in the elementary physics books. This would mark the beginning of Thomas Alva Edison's journey into the world of science.

          Alva's next fascination came with that of trains. He would work on the train which traveled between Port Huron and Detroit selling candy, fruits, and papers. The money that he made was used to fund his chemistry experiments, his own printing press, and several side ventures of business selling various items. At this time Alva had become quite industrious. His current hope was to become a chemist. One experiment which Alva lead with his close friend lead to some trouble. The concept was to have the other boy drink large amounts of a concoction which generated a lot of gas...presumably the poor young boy would become airborne, however he only became very ill. Alva received a switching from his mother over the incident.

          Alva's curiosity was sparked by electricity next. He experimented and played with a homemade telegraph key and a battery frequently. One of his favorite things to do was practice Morse code while communicating with those around. He even built a line and another telegraph set which lead directly to his friends home half a mile away. Alva even considered becoming a telegrapher. Even after the initial onset of deafness at the age of twelve, Alva pursued telegraphing with great interest, setting many other things aside. 1963 Alva accepted a position as the night operator at Stratford Junction 40 miles from his home.