Young Edison Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11 1847 in Milan Ohio Al as his family nicknamed him was the youngest of seven children When Thomas was about eight he went to school His teacher could not keep up with his questions so he left after just three months From then on Thomas’s mother taught him at home He was always very grateful to his mother for spending so much time teaching him He wanted to make her proud Thomas was a lively curious boy who asked lots of questions about how things worked
Thomas’s favorite subject was science He loved it so much that he built a laboratory for his own experiments EARNING MONEY Thomas was eager to start earning money and by the age of 12 he had a job He sold snacks cand and newspapers on the Grand Trunk railroad line Soon he was printing his own weekly newspaper the Grand Trunk Herald and selling that too Steam locomotives carried passengers along the Grand Trunk Railroad in Canada and the United States Thomas worked on the trains that ran between Port Huron and Detroit in Michigan
Edison the Telegraph Operator In 1862 Thomas saved the life of a little boy who had strayed onto a railroad track and his own life changed forever The boy’s father was a telegraph operator He was so grateful to Thomas that he taught him how to use a telegraph machine Now Thomas could get a job as a telegraph operator Telegraphy By the 1860s telegraphy had become way of sending messages around the world Telegraph machines like this one designed by Samuel Morse sent messages along a wire using electrical signals The first long-distance telephone call did not happen until 1915 Edison traveled around the United States for years working as a telegraph operator But he was ambitious He spent his spare time experimenting with new ideas He loved inventing and hoped that one of his inventions would make his fortune
