Unveiling Thomas Edison's Early Innovations by Bettly Jo Belton

Further enquiry would have disclosed the fact that this boy was none other than Thomas Alva Edison – or young Tom Edison as he was then known. One day when the train was at Mt. Clements, the little daughter of the station agent there, ran out on to the tracks and young Edison rescued her from the threat of an approaching train. In gratitude for this chivalrous deed, the station agent, whose name was McKenzie, taught Edison the art of telegraphy and shortly thereafter he had qualified himself as an operator and was employed at Port Huron at $25.00 a month. 

Following a brief period of employment as telegraph operator at Port Huron, Edison came to Stratford as night operator in the early 1860’s. For at least part of the time that he was in Stratford, Edison lived at…the residence of William Winter, who conducted an express and telegraph business here… It was while in Stratford that he rigged up a contraption that would automatically operate his signal, while he could use the time for resting. This, however, was one invention that didn’t appear to be too successful. It was only by great good luck that a train that should have been required to stop was not involved in a wreck when it continued on its course. 

This was the incident that ended young Edison’s career in Stratford. Edison’s grandparents had lived in Canada, but he was born in the United States, his family having left Canada at the time of the Mackenzie Rebellion of 1837. Edison’s account of this is graphic for he is reported to have said that “The old man got mixed up in that scrap and they chased him clear across Canada. He got off at Detroit.” 

Thus, Edison was born in the United States rather than in Canada, although, we in Stratford can claim him as a resident for some time just at the dawn of his amazing career. It was in 1879 that Edison perfected his invention of the electric light but it was not until Christmas Eve 1910 that the street lights were turned on in Stratford, operated by hydro-electric power from Niagara. Prior to that, the local electric company, with power from the dam, had been used for that purpose.

 Now throughout the world no one considers it surprising that homes and streets should be well illuminated with electric lights. Yet it can all be traced back to a young boy who lived and worked here in Stratford years ago, and a young boy too, who did not have the advantage of much education. When the Hollywood picture “Young Tom Edison” was produced, the first Canadian showing of the film was held here in Stratford and at that time a plaque was erected in the station to mark the association of Edison, both with Stratford and with the railway. 

There is an incident, in closing, which will be of interest to railway people. When Edison left the railway in such a hurry, he left without waiting to collect his wages. Some twenty-five years later (he was famous by then) the railway presented him with a cheque for one month’s wages at a public ceremony in Port Huron. I suppose there is a moral to this but I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. The point in the story of Edison’s life as far as we are concerned, is that we may well have in our midst right now young men and women whose names, like Edison’s, will be famous throughout the world a few years from now.”    Source: Stratford-Perth Archives