last update:  April 2, 2017  GRA

Thomas Alva Edison
 (11 February 1847 – 18 October, 1931)

“The Canadian Connection”

The research presented here is from 1996-1999.  It is considered more of a resource, a collection of facts rather than a treatise, along with some key genealogy.  Much has been written already by others.  See the reading list.

Overview of the Edison story with reference to Canada:

-Originally from Holland, the Edisons were United Empire Loyalists from New Jersey that fled to Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War.

-In 1811 they (TAE’s grandfather, Samuel Ogden Edison, and 18 others ) were attracted to Ontario by free land offered by Thomas Talbot, and settled in Bayham Township on the banks of The Otter Creek, in Elgin County.

-TAE’s father, Samuel Jr, was involved in the MacKenzie Rebellion in 1837, and had to hightail it to Port Huron, USA.  Eventually he made his way to Milan, Ohio, where his family finally caught up with him a couple of years later.  (He likely selected Milan because there was boat traffic between Port Burwell and Milan).  In 1847, Thomas Edison was born there.

-In 1854 the family moved to Port Huron.

In 1863 Thomas took a job, briefly, in Stratford Ontario, as a telegrapher for the GTR.  He lived at 19 Grange Street.

Reading List

  1. “County of Digby” Isaiah Wilson, 1900
  2. “Edison’s Roots on Display”, Peter Geigen-Miller, London Free Press, 2003
  3. “How a boy from Port Huron changed the world” Michigan Traveler, #58, February 1997. (150th birthday of TAE)
  4. “Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867 vols 1& 2”. Col Leonard H. Smith, Jr and Norma H. Smith, 1992, 1994.
  5. “Edison Family Bible” ( I have excerpted pages)
  6. “The Descendents of John Edison”, Rev Clarence Alanson Roberts undated duotang  (I have a copy – John Edison 1727-1814)
  7. “Edison: A Biography”, Mathew Josephson, 1959
  8. “The Edisons, One Family, Twice Exiled”, by Ted Brush and Mead Stapler, The North Jersey Highlander, Summer 1976
  9. “The Edisons Of Vienna”, Lyal Tait, St Thomas Elgin County Library, 1977
  10. Port Huron Times Herald Feb 5, 1940 “Edison Edition”
  11. Stratford Beacon April 2, 1940
  12. Ida Haggan Papers Elgin County Library Board
  13. Louise Hatch Papers Elgin County Library Board
  14. “Edison Family Genealogy” James Niccum, 1992
  15. “Edison: Inventing the Century”, Neil Baldwin, 1995
  16. “The House in the Grove”, Stamps/Hawkins/Wright, 1994
  17. “Pioneer Churches of Bayham Township”, Kirk Barons, 1977
  18. “Floodtides of Fortune – Stratford”, Adelaide Leitch, 1980
  19. “Working at Invention”, William S. Pretzer, 1989
  20. “Elgin County Annual Report”, 1982 (Edison wills)
  21. “Bayham Memories and Milestones”,Nezezon and Weston, 2000
  22. “Edison: His Life and Inventions”, Frank Lewis Dyer & Thomas Commerford Martin, 1929.

Edison Museums and Repositories

  1. Louise Hatch Papers Elgin County Archives
  2. Ida Haggan Papers Elgin County Archives
  3. UWO Regional Collection Box 5584 #68 of Seaborn Diary Collection  CA90NLAU 511-40517
  4. Edison Homestead Museum, Vienna, Ontario
  5. Edison Winter Home, Fort Myers, FL
  6. The Edison Historic Site, West Orange, NJ
  7. Greenfield Village, Detroit
  8. Port Huron Museum
  9. Edison Birthplace, Milan Ohio
  10. Edison family fonds -Elgin County archives
  11. Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Halifax

Chronology

1784 John Edison and family sailed to Digby, Nova Scotia from New York.

1811 Samuel (TAE Gfather) and Moses Edison went to Vienna in Upper Canada received a grant of 600 acres from Thomas Talbot.

1837  TAE’s father escaped from Canada to Port Huron, (failed MacKenzie Rebellion) and thence went to Milan, Ohio,

1847 Thomas Alva Edison born in Milan, Ohio

1854 TAE and family moved to Port Huron

1863 TAE accepts a job as night telegrapher with the Grand Trunk Railroad in Stratford.  (short lived – he was fired for being asleep when an important message came in about trouble on the tracks)

1933 The family homestead in Vienna was moved to Greenfield Village by Henry Ford

Research notes

  • There are some African Americans in Nova Scotia with the name Edison that descended from a negro who came to Nova Scotia from New York with the Edisons.
  • Samuel Ogden Edison Jr, (father of TAE) was involved in the 1837 uprising, which forced his hurried escape to the USA. He eventually established a grain and lumber business in Port Huron in 1854.
  • TAE was named Thomas after an uncle and Alva in respect for their friend Capt Alva Bradley, who brought the Edison family to their father Samuel Jr in Milan, OH on one of his ships that took lumber across Lake Erie from Port Burwell. (TAE was not born yet, he was born in Milan, OH)
  • Thomas moved to Port Huron at age of 7.
  • TAE lived at 19 Grange Street in Stratford, while engaged as a telegraph operator for the GTR. (Stratford Beacon, April 2, 1940)
  • TAE grandfather, Samuel Ogden Edison (1767-1865) Captain, first Middlesex regiment in war of 1812. participated in victory at Detroit, Aug 1812.
    served under Lord Howe (or was it his father?)

Moses and Samuel went to Upper Canada in 1811.  They received a grant of 600 acres.

There were19 persons who went to Upper Canada in spring of 1811.

Genealogy

A file of 1652 related individuals was assembled during this research.

The main line from the earliest ancestor, Thomas Edison, through to Thomas Alva Edison Jr, is given below, followed by a list of descendants of Thomas A.

If you are related, and are looking for information on specific families, please contact the author at chandossier@gmail.com.

Direct Descendants of Thomas Edison

1      Thomas EDISON     

……..  2        John EDISON       1727 – 1814

…………                 +Sarah OGDEN    1745 – 1812 Father: Samuel OGDEN Mother: Phebe BALDWIN

………………. 3        Moses B. EDISON 1783 – 1849

………………. 3        Phoebe EDISON   1795 –

………………. 3        Samuel Ogden EDISON 1767 – 1865

…………………..                +Ann ROOP

…………………..                +Nancy SIMPSON         1770 – 1824

……………………….. 4        Marcellus EDISON        1794 – 1849

……………………….. 4        John EDISON       1796 – 1824

……………………….. 4        Thomas EDISON  1798 – 1867

……………………….. 4        Henry EDISON    1800 – 1883

……………………….. 4        David EDISON    1802 – 1885

……………………….. 4        Samuel Ogden EDISON, Jr.     1804 – 1896

……………………………                 +Nancy ELLIOTT 1810 – 1871 Father: Ebenezer Mathews ELLIOTT    Mother: Mercy PECKHAM

…………………………………. 5        Marion Wallace EDISON         1829 – 1900

…………………………………. 5        William Pitt EDISON     1832 – 1891

…………………………………. 5        Harriet Ann EDISON     1833 – 1863

…………………………………. 5        Carlile S. EDISON 1836 – 1842

…………………………………. 5        Samuel Ogden EDISON 1840 – 1843

…………………………………. 5        Eliza S. EDISON  1844 – 1847

…………………………………. 5        Thomas Alva EDISON   1847 – 1931    

……………………………………..                +Mary STILWELL         1855 – 1884 Father: Nicholas STILWELL Mother: Margaret CRANE

………………………………………….. 6        Marion Estelle EDISON 1873 – 1965

………………………………………….. 6        Thomas Alva Jr EDISON         1876 – 1935

………………………………………….. 6        William Leslie EDISON 1878 – 1937

……………………………………..                +Mina MILLER    1865 – 1947 Father: Lewis MILLER  Mother: Mary Valinda ALEXANDER

………………………………………….. 6        Madeleine EDISON        1888 – 1979

………………………………………….. 6        Theodore Miller EDISON        1898 – 1992

………………………………………….. 6        Charles E. EDISON        1890 – 1969

……………………………                 +Mary SHARLOW        1854 –

…………………………………. 5        Marietta EDISON 1873 – 1931

…………………………………. 5        Maude EDISON   1878 – 1938

…………………………………. 5        Mabel C. EDISON 1882 – 1959

……………………….. 4        Snow EDISON     1809 – 1849

……………………….. 4        Eliza EDISON      1808 – 1827

…………………..                +Elizabeth YOKUM

……………………….. 4        Simeon Odgen EDISON 1826 – 1916

……………………….. 4        Mahlon Burwell EDISON        1828 – 1911

……………………….. 4        Elizabeth Jane EDISON  1823 – 1900

……………………….. 4        Fordice Warner EDISON 1832 – 1923

……………………….. 4        Charles Oscar EDISON  1835 – 1922

………………. 3        Adonijah EDISON 1772 – 1825

………………. 3        Thomas EDISON  1777 – 1850

………………. 3        Sarah EDISON     1781 – 1837

………………. 3        Marcellus EDISON        1784 –

………………. 3        Catharine EDISON         1786 – 1872

………………. 3        Mary EDISON      1788 – 1832

………………. 3        Margaret EDISON 1791 – 1879

Descendants of Thomas Alva Edison

(generations 4,5,6 have been omitted for reasons of privacy)

  1      Thomas Alva EDISON   1847 – 1931         

..   +Mary STILWELL    1855 – 1884 Father: Nicholas STILWELL    Mother: Margaret CRANE

……..  2        Marion Estelle EDISON 1873 – 1965

…………                 +Karl Oscar OESER                          Mother: Eugenie OESER?

……..  2        Thomas Alva Jr EDISON         1876 – 1935

…………                 +Beatrice HEYSER

……..           *2nd Wife of Thomas Alva Jr EDISON:

…………                 +Marie Louise TOOHEY 1880 –

……..  2        William Leslie EDISON 1878 – 1937

…………                 +Blanche F. TRAVERS

*2nd Wife of Thomas Alva EDISON:

..   +Mina MILLER         1865 – 1947 Father: Lewis MILLER   Mother: Mary Valinda ALEXANDER

……..  2        Madeleine EDISON        1888 – 1979

…………                 +John Eyre SLOANE

………………. 3        Thomas Edison SLOANE        1916 –

…………………..                +Elaine Bernice LEVY   1916 –

………………. 3        John Edison SLOANE    1918 –

…………………..                +Jule DAY  1919 –

………………. 3        Peter Edison SLOANE   1923 –

…………………..                +Elizabeth STAIGER

……………….          *2nd Wife of Peter Edison SLOANE:

…………………..                +Barbara MILFORD

………………. 3        Michael Nicholas Samuel Edison SLOANE 1931 – 1949

……..  2        Theodore Miller EDISON        1898 – 1992

…………                 +Anna Marie OSTERHOUT    1901 – 1993 Father: Winthrop John Vanleuven OSTERHOUT

……..  2        Charles E. EDISON        1890 – 1969

…………                 +Carolyn HAWKINS     1883 – 1963 Father: Horatio Gate HAWKINS  Mother: Ada Jane WOODRUFF