MILAN, OHIO Discover much at Edison museum

The mischievous boy grew into the inventor who kept his mischievous ways.
By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MILAN, Ohio -- Thomas Alva Edison was more than just an ingenious inventor.
He was also a tireless practical jokester and a bit of a juvenile delinquent.
When Thomas was just a little tyke, he accidentally burned down the family barn while conducting a science experiment.
Thomas' father was so infuriated that he scheduled a public whipping in the town square and tanned the boy's hide.
Thomas also had troubles at school.
After just three months in the classroom, 7-year-old Thomas was expelled when his teacher declared him addle-brained.
Evidently, she couldn't see the boy's potential because addle-brained or otherwise, little Thomas was wildly creative.
For example, he once made an earthworm sandwich for a little girl and told her she'd be able to fly like a robin if she ate it.
When he wasn't making earthworm sandwiches or burning down barns, young Thomas liked to hang out at the canal basin near his family's home.
There he learned to sing bawdy sailor's songs, and on more than one occasion, boatmen had to fish the mischievous lad out of the murky water after he'd fallen in.
Mischief remained
Adulthood didn't take the twinkle out of Thomas' eye.
In his golden years, the wealthy, world-famous inventor delighted in playing practical jokes on visitors to his West Orange, N.J., mansion.
His favorite prank was to scare the daylights out of his guests by making them believe the mansion was infested with ghosts.
Visitors to the Thomas Alva Edison Birthplace Museum won't encounter any ghosts, but they will feel as if they've gotten better acquainted with the man behind hundreds of major inventions, including the phonograph and light bulb.
The museum is in the quaint town of Milan, about 15 miles south of Sandusky, in a snug, brick house that was built by Edison's father in 1841.
It was here that the famous inventor was born Feb. 11, 1847, in a rope bed in a tiny downstairs bedroom.
During a museum tour, visitors can take a peek into that very room and hear all about the inventor's colorful life while browsing three floors filled with Edison family heirlooms, including rare photographs and antique furnishings.
Hanging in the parlor, for example, is a mirror that was given to Edison's eldest sister, Marion, on her wedding day in 1849.
The wedding took place in the home's parlor, and so did the funerals of three of Edison's siblings who died in childhood.
On display
The museum also houses examples of many of Edison's inventions, such as an early alkaline battery, a miner's lamp outfitted with a miniature light bulb and a circa-1890 talking doll that recited nursery rhymes.
The battery and miner's lamp were successes, but the talking doll was a failure after only six months on the market. Critics deemed her metal body too heavy and her voice too squeaky. Today, she's a collector's item worth thousands of dollars.
Edison was the youngest of seven children. His father made shingles, and his mother was a schoolteacher.
Later in life, Edison would credit all of his success to his mother, the person who took command of the boy's learning after he was expelled from public school.
Under his mother's tutelage, Edison excelled scholastically, boasting a photographic memory that enabled him to recite dictionary pages.
On display in one of the museum's upstairs bedrooms is a 150-year-old bedspread hand-knitted by Edison's mother.
Important women
Besides his mother, Edison had at least two other important ladies in his life: his first wife, Mary, and his second wife, Mina.
Mary died of typhoid fever at age 29, leaving Edison with three children to care for.
After Mary's death, the widowed inventor married Mina Miller, a wealthy young woman half his age. With Mina, he had three more children.
Many of Mina's personal possessions are on display at the museum, including her circa-1883 high school graduation dress and an elaborate, beaded gown she wore for special occasions.
Edison and his second wife spent most of their married life at the West Orange mansion in New Jersey where Edison is buried.
Although Edison rests in New Jersey, his spirit seems alive and well at the home of his boyhood -- the little brick house at 10 Edison Drive in Milan.
Edison died in 1931, but he visited his birthplace for a final time in 1923.
During that last visit, the inventor of the light bulb was most surprised to find that his childhood home was still being lighted with oil lamps and candles.