Editing Thomas Edison (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Young Thomas Edison.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Edison in 1861]]

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in [[Milan, Ohio]], but grew up in [[Port Huron, Michigan]], after the family moved there in 1854.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.loc.gov/static/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison.html| title = Edison's Early Years| website = [[Library of Congress]]| access-date = July 20, 2020| archive-date = October 20, 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201020133245/https://www.loc.gov/static/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/biography/life-of-thomas-alva-edison.html| url-status = live}}</ref> He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. (1804–1896, born in [[Marshalltown, Nova Scotia]]) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871, born in [[Chenango County, New York]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=443&ResourceType |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808185308/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=443&ResourceType |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 8, 2011 |title= Edison, Thomas A., Birthplace  |publisher=National Historic Landmarks Program |access-date=December 31, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://invention.si.edu/thomas-edisons-inventive-life|title=Thomas Edison's Inventive Life|first=Joyce|last=Bedi|website=Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|date=April 18, 2004|access-date=April 1, 2018|archive-date=April 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075142/http://invention.si.edu/thomas-edisons-inventive-life|url-status=dead}}. Retrieved March 31, 2018</ref> His patrilineal family line was [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]] by way of [[New Jersey]];<ref>{{cite book |title=The Yankee Road: Tracing the Journey of the New England Tribe that Created Modern America, Vol. 2: Domination |publisher=Wheatmark, Inc. |isbn=978-1-62787-519-6 |page=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcFODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |date=March 7, 2018 |access-date=December 4, 2018 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022174616/https://books.google.com/books?id=PcFODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |url-status=live }}</ref> the surname had originally been "Edeson".<ref name="Baldwin">{{cite book | last = Baldwin | first = Neal | title = Edison: Inventing the Century | publisher = [[Hyperion (publisher)|Hyperion]] | year = 1995 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/edisoninventingc00bald/page/n26 3]–5 | isbn = 978-0-7868-6041-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/edisoninventingc00bald | url-access = registration }}</ref>

His great-grandfather, [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalist]] John Edeson, fled New Jersey for Nova Scotia in 1784. The family moved to Middlesex County, [[Upper Canada]], around 1811, and his grandfather, Capt. Samuel Edison Sr. served with the [[Middlesex Militia (Upper Canada)|1st Middlesex Militia]] during the War of 1812. His father, Samuel Edison Jr. moved to [[Vienna, Ontario]], and fled to Ohio after his involvement in the [[Rebellion of 1837]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/samuel-and-nancy-elliott-edison.htm|title=Samuel and Nancy Elliott Edison – Thomas Edison National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|access-date=October 9, 2021|archive-date=October 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009201421/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/samuel-and-nancy-elliott-edison.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Edison was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, a former school teacher. He attended school for only a few months. However, one biographer described him as a very curious child who learned most things by reading on his own.<ref name="npsedisonbio">{{cite web|title=Edison Biography|url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/edison-biography.htm|website=National Park Service|access-date=May 28, 2017|archive-date=June 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624063102/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/edison-biography.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> As a child, he became fascinated with technology and spent hours working on experiments at home.<ref name="biography.com">[https://www.biography.com/news/thomas-edison-train-accident-young-boy-saved-telegraph The Near-Death Experience That Set Thomas Edison on the Road to Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721092420/https://www.biography.com/news/thomas-edison-train-accident-young-boy-saved-telegraph |date=July 21, 2020 }}, Barbara Maranzani, March 5, 2020.</ref>

Edison developed hearing problems at the age of 12. The cause of his [[deafness]] has been attributed to a bout of [[scarlet fever]] during childhood and recurring untreated [[Otitis media|middle-ear infections]]. He subsequently concocted elaborate fictitious stories about the cause of his deafness.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-medical-mystery-that-helped-make-thomas-edison-an-inventor The medical mystery that helped make Thomas Edison an inventor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720192038/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-medical-mystery-that-helped-make-thomas-edison-an-inventor |date=July 20, 2020 }}, PBS, October 22, 2018.</ref> He was completely deaf in one ear and barely hearing in the other.  It is alleged<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/edmund-morris-edison/598357/|title=Thomas Edison's Greatest Invention|website=atlantic.com|date=October 13, 2019|access-date=October 17, 2019|archive-date=October 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017045925/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/edmund-morris-edison/598357/|url-status=live}}</ref> that Edison would listen to a music player or piano by clamping his teeth into the wood to absorb the sound waves into his skull. As he got older, Edison believed his hearing loss allowed him to avoid distraction and concentrate more easily on his work. Modern-day historians and medical professionals have suggested he may have had [[ADHD]].<ref name="biography.com"/>

It is known that early in his career he enrolled in a chemistry course at [[Cooper Union|The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art]] to support his work on a new [[telegraphy]] system with [[Charles Batchelor]]. This appears to have been his only enrollment in courses at an institution of higher learning.<ref name="Thomas A. Edison: A Streak of Luck">{{cite book |last1=Conot |first1=Robert |title=Thomas A. Edison: A Streak of Luck |date=1979 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=New York}}</ref><ref name="faculty.cooper.edu">{{cite web |last1=Topper |first1=Robert Q. |title=Thomas Edison, Chemistry and Cooper Union |url=http://faculty.cooper.edu/topper/general/edison.html |access-date=March 5, 2021 |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212143418/http://faculty.cooper.edu/topper/general/edison.html |url-status=live }}</ref>