Besides, they were in series, that is, the current passed
through every lamp in turn, and an accident to one threw the
whole series out of action. The whole problem of indoor lighting
was to be solved by one of America's most famous inventors.
The antecedents of Thomas Alva Edison in America may be traced
back to the time when Franklin was beginning his career as a
printer in Philadelphia. The first American Edisons appear to
have come from Holland about 1730 and settled on the Passaic
River in New Jersey. Edison's grandfather, John Edison, was a
Loyalist in the Revolution who found refuge in Nova Scotia and
subsequently moved to Upper Canada. His son, Samuel Edison,
thought he saw a moral in the old man's exile. His father had
taken the King's side and had lost his home; Samuel would make no
such error. So, when the Canadian Rebellion of 1837 broke out,
Samuel Edison, aged thirty-three, arrayed himself on the side of
the insurgents. This time, however, the insurgents lost, and
Samuel was obliged to flee to the United States, just as his
father had fled to Canada. He finally settled at Milan, Ohio, and
there, in 1847, in a little brick house, which is still standing,
Thomas Alva Edison was born.
When the boy was seven the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan.
The fact that he attended school only three months and soon
became self-supporting was not due to poverty.
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