Early+Life

=Early Life=

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11th, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. In spring 1854, he moved to Port Huron, Michigan because his father's lumber business had been failing. Soon after the Edison family moved to Port Huron,Tom caught scarlet fever. He did not attend school that year because of the illness.The next year, Thomas went to school for his first time- a private school. He would later go to a public school. He did poorly in both. Back then, pupils learned lessons by memorizing them. Tom had little patience for this. He was curious, and wanted to discover things on his own. Tom once heard the schoolmaster describing him as "addled". Tom knew that this word meant "mixed-up" and was furious. He stomped out of the classroom and said he would never attend school again. He didn't. His mother took him out of school and began homeschooling him. She was well prepared for this, as she had once been a teacher herself. One day, Tom asked, "Why do geese squat on their eggs?" Later that day, he was nowhere in sight. He was finally found sitting on a nest of goose eggs. Once, Tom's need to learn proved troublesome. He started a fire in his fathers barn. The fire got out of control, and the barn burned down. He explained, while getting a large thrashing, "I only wanted to see what would happen." Once, Tom fell into a grain elevator. He came out barely alive and gasping for breath. Tom used whatever money he could earn to buy chemicals. He experimented in his