in this direction is furnished by the fact that six revenue cutters were launched at this port
in these brisk days of its prime.
Samuel Edison, versatile, buoyant of temper, and ever optimistic, would thus appear to
have pitched his tent with shrewd judgment. There was plenty of occupation ready to his
hand, and more than one enterprise received his attention; but he devoted his energies
chiefly to the making of shingles, for which there was a large demand locally and along
the lake. Canadian lumber was used principally in this industry. The wood was imported
in "bolts" or pieces three feet long. A bolt made two shingles; it was sawn asunder by
hand, then split and shaved. None but first-class timber was used, and such shingles
outlasted far those made by machinery with their cross-grain cut. A house in Milan, on
which some of those shingles were put in 1844, was still in excellent condition forty-two
years later. Samuel Edison did well at this occupation, and employed several men, but
there were other outlets from time to time for his business activity and speculative
disposition.
Edison's mother was an attractive and highly educated woman, whose influence upon his
disposition and intellect has been profound and lasting. She was born in Chenango
County, New York, in 1810, and was the daughter of the Rev. John Elliott, a Baptist
minister and descendant of an old Revolutionary soldier, Capt. Ebenezer Elliott, of
Scotch descent. The old captain was a fine and picturesque type. He fought all through
the long War of Independence --seven years--and then appears to have settled down at
Stonington, Connecticut. There, at any rate, he found his wife, "grandmother Elliott,"
who was Mercy Peckham, daughter of a Scotch Quaker. Then came the residence in New
York State, with final removal to Vienna, for the old soldier, while drawing his pension at
Buffalo, lived in the little Canadian town, and there died, over 100 years old. The family
was evidently one of considerable culture and deep religious feeling, for two of Mrs.
Edison's uncles and two brothers were also in the same Baptist ministry. As a young
woman she became a teacher in the public high school at Vienna, and thus met her
husband, who was residing there. The family never consisted of more than three children,
two boys and a girl. A trace of the Canadian environment is seen in the fact that Edison's
elder brother was named William Pitt, after the great English statesman. Both his brother
and the sister exhibited considerable ability. William Pitt Edison as a youth was so clever
with his pencil that it was proposed to send him to Paris as an art student. In later life he
was manager of the local street railway lines at Port Huron, Michigan, in which he was
heavily interested. He also owned a good farm near that town, and during the ill-health at
the close of his life, when compelled to spend much of the time indoors, he devoted
himself almost entirely to sketching. It has been noted by intimate observers of Thomas
A. Edison that in discussing any project or new idea his first impulse is to take up any
piece of paper available and make drawings of it. His voluminous note-books are a mass
of sketches. Mrs-Tannie Edison Bailey, the sister, had, on the other hand, a great deal of
literary ability, and spent much of her time in writing.
The great inventor, whose iron endurance and stern will have enabled him to wear down
all his associates by work sustained through arduous days and sleepless nights, was not at
all strong as a child, and was of fragile appearance. He had an abnormally large but well-
shaped head, and it is said that the local doctors feared he might have brain trouble. In
