Chronology of Edison's Family

Click here for biographical sketches of members of Edison, Miller, and affiliated families.


180416 August Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (father) is born in Nova Scotia.
1808? 4 January Nancy Matthews Elliott (mother) is born in New Berlin, New York.
1811Edison family moves to Vienna, Ontario.
1828Samuel and Nancy are married in Vienna.
182915 September Marion Wallace Edison (sister) is born in Vienna.
18315 NovemberWilliam Pitt Edison (brother) is born in Vienna.
183323 MayHarriett Ann ("Tannie") Edison (sister) is born in Vienna.
18368 January Carlile Snow Edison (brother) is born in Vienna.
1837DecemberSamuel participates in a rebellion against the Ontario government and is forced to flee to the United States.
1839Samuel settles in Milan, Ohio, and is joined by the rest of his family.
18405 March Samuel Ogden Edison, III (brother) is born in Milan.
1841Fall Samuel designs and begins building a house on a lot that Nancy had purchased earlier in the year.
184214 February Carlile Edison dies in Milan.
184317 July Samuel O. Edison, III dies in Milan.
184419 May Eliza Smith Edison (sister) is born in Milan.
184711 FebruaryThomas Alva Edison is born in Milan.
18 December Eliza Edison dies in Milan.
184919 DecemberMarion Edison marries Homer Page.
1854Edison family moves to Port Huron, Michigan.
185530 MayHarriet Ann Edison marries Samuel Bailey on a farm near Port Huron.
6 September Mary Stilwell (Edison's first wife) is born in Newark, New Jersey.
185611 September William Pitt Edison marries Nellie Holihan in Port Huron.
18605 MarchCharles Pitt Edison (William Pitt's son) is born in Port Huron.
18612 AugustSamuel Bailey dies.
18633 March Harriet Ann Edison dies.
18656 JulyMina Miller (Edison's second wife) is born in Akron, Ohio.
  1871  9 April Nancy Edison dies.
21 NovemberEdison buys a house in Newark.
25 DecemberEdison marries Mary Stilwell.
187318 FebruaryEdison's first daughter, Marion Estelle ("Dot"), is born in Newark.
1874AugustCharles Pitt Edison works for a while at his uncle's laboratory in Newark.
early November   Edison is forced to sell his house and the family moves into an apartment in Newark.
1875MarchCharles Pitt Edison returns to work in his uncle's laboratory.
29 DecemberEdison purchases property in Menlo Park, New Jersey, for a new laboratory and home.
1876WinterEdison's father oversees construction of the laboratory in Menlo Park.
10 JanuaryEdison's first son, Thomas Alva, Jr. ("Dash"), is born in Newark.
c. 26-28 March Edison family moves to Menlo Park.
187826 OctoberEdison's second son, William Leslie, is born in Menlo Park.
187919 OctoberCharles Pitt Edison dies in Paris, France.
18849 AugustMary Stilwell Edison dies in Menlo Park.
1885March While on a vacation in Florida with his friend Ezra T. Gilliland, Edison purchases land in the Gulf Coast town of Fort Myers.
1886JanuaryEdison purchases Glenmont, his home in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey.
24 FebruaryEdison marries Mina Miller in Akron, Ohio.
28 February Thomas and Mina Edison arrive in Jacksonville, Florida to begin their honeymoon.
17 March Thomas and Mina Edison arrive in Fort Myers. After spending the first part of their stay in a hotel, they move into their newly constructed home, Seminole Lodge.
19 October Edison's brother-in-law, Ira Mandeville Miller, marries Cornelia (Cora) Wise.
188725 January Edison's brother-in-law, Robert Anderson Miller, marries Louise Igoe.
188831 MayEdison's second daughter, Madeleine, is born.
188918 March Marion Estelle Edison arrives in France with her step-aunt, Jane Miller, to join Jane's sisters, Mary and Grace, in a tour of Europe.
1890January Marion Estelle Edison contracts smallpox while in Dresden, Germany.
3 AugustEdison's third son, Charles, is born.
1891January William Pitt Edison dies in Port Huron.
18927 April Marion Estelle Edison arrives in West Orange after three years traveling abroad. She remains in the United States for two years and then returns to Europe.
20 April Edison's sister-in-law, Jane Eliza Miller, marries attorney Richard Pratt Marvin in Akron, Ohio.
189318 January A week after his seventeenth birthday, Thomas A. Edison, Jr., announces his intention to drop out of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and return to New Jersey to work for his father. His brother William remains at St. Paul's until the end of the year and then enrolls in Trinity Preparatory School in Staten Island.
1894 c. March Marion Estelle Edison returns to Europe.
  Marion Edison Page purchases the home in Milan, Ohio, in which Thomas Edison was born and adds a bathroom and other modern conveniences.
18951 October Marion Estelle Edison marries Karl Oscar Oeser in Dresden, Germany. She remains in Europe until 1925.
189626 February Samuel O. Edison, Jr., dies in Norwalk, Ohio.
189711 OctoberEdison's brother-in-law, Homer Page, dies in Milan, Ohio.
1898MarchNewspapers announce that William Leslie Edison has dropped out of Yale University after one semester on account of an "eye difficulty."
JuneWilliam Leslie Edison joins the U.S. Army as a private in the First New York Regiment of Volunteer Engineers. He serves in the Puerto Rican Campaign during the Spanish-American War.
8 JulyEdison's brother-in-law, Theodore W. Miller, dies in Cuba of wounds sustained a week earlier during the Battle of San Juan Hill.
10 JulyEdison's fourth son is born. He is named Theodore Miller Edison after Mina's recently deceased brother.
29 November Edison's sister-in-law, Jane Miller Marvin, dies in Akron, Ohio, after a long illness.
189917 February Edison's father-in-law, Lewis Miller, dies in New York City.
19 FebruaryThomas Alva Edison, Jr., marries Marie Louise Toohey in the Roman Catholic Church, two days after announcing they had secretly married in November. After living together less than two years, they separate.
7 NovemberWilliam Leslie Edison marries Blanche F. Travers against his father's wishes.
1900 31 January Edison's sister, Marion Edison Page, dies in Chicago and is buried four days later in Milan, Ohio.
1901May Madeleine Edison is threatened by kidnappers.
190617 FebruaryMarie Louise Toohey dies; Edison pays for the funeral and the obituary in the New York Herald.
26 MarchEdison buys a farm in Burlington, New Jersey, for his son Thomas Alva Edison, Jr., who has recently been released from a sanitarium for the treatment of alcoholism.
9 July Thomas Alva Edison, Jr., marries Beatrice Heyzer. Prior to their marriage, they had been living together under the names of Burton and Beatrice Willard.
14 July Edison files a deed of transfer for his birthplace home in Milan, Ohio, which he had purchased in 1905 from Marion Isabel Ristine Wheeler, the granddaughter of his late sister Marion.
SeptemberMadeleine Edison enrolls at Bryn Mawr College; she leaves without graduating in June 1908.
1909FebruaryEdison agrees to loan his son William Leslie Edison $150 to move to a house in the country.
SeptemberCharles Edison enrolls in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1911 24 June Mina Edison and her children Madeleine and Theodore set sail for Europe. They are joined in France by Thomas and Charles, who leave New York on 2 August.
26 July Edison's brother-in-law, Robert Anderson Miller, dies while visiting Chautauqua.
28 September Edison and his family sail for home, arriving in New York on 7 October.
191226 June Edison's sister-in-law, Mary Emily Miller, marries businessman William Wallace Nichols in Akron, Ohio.
19 OctoberEdison's mother-in-law, Mary Valinda Miller, dies in Akron, Ohio.
1913JanuaryNewspapers announce that Charles Edison has dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology midway through his senior year.
191417 JuneMadeleine Edison marries John Eyre Sloane, a Roman Catholic, against her parents' wishes.
1916 15 February Edison's sister-in-law, Grace Miller, marries businessman Halbert Kellogg Hitchcock at Glenmont.
4 MarchEdison's first grandchild, Thomas Edison ("Teddy") Sloane, is born.
JuneCharles Edison becomes chairman of the board of directors of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
20 November Edison's brother-in-law, Lewis Alexander Miller, marries Cotta Smyser.
1918 27 March Charles Edison marries Carolyn Hawkins at Seminole Lodge in Fort Myers, Florida.
21 AprilEdison's second grandchild, John Edison Sloane, is born.
JulyWilliam Leslie Edison enlists in the Tank Corps of the U.S. Army. He serves as a sergeant in Great Britain and France before returning home in 1919.
1919SeptemberTheodore Edison enrolls in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Edison's brother-in-law, Edward Burkett Miller, marries his housekeeper, Elizabeth Ann Lewis.
1921Marion Edison divorces Oscar Oeser.
30 MarchEdison's brother-in-law, John Vincent Miller, marries Florence Stuart Nichols in New York City.
19232 MarchEdison's third grandchild, Peter Edison Sloane, is born.
JuneTheodore Edison graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in physics. He remains there another year to pursue his Master's degree.
1925 25 February After living more than three decades in Germany, Marion Edison departs for America. She visits her aunt Alice Stilwell Holzer in Hamilton, Ontario, before returning to the United States at the end of June.
25 April Theodore Edison marries Anna Marie Osterhout.
19262 AugustCharles Edison becomes president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
1927 16 April Nellie Holihan Eccles, widow of Edison's brother William Pitt Edison, dies in Port Huron.
19318 JanuaryEdison's fourth grandchild, Michael Edison Sloane, is born.
1 April Theodore Edison announces his intention to resign his positions in the various Edison companies in order to devote more time to Calibron Products, Inc., the company he had founded a short time before.
18 OctoberEdison dies at Glenmont.
193229 JulyAlice Stilwell Holzer, Edison's former sister-in-law, dies in Hamilton, Ontario.
1934 29 July Ira Mandeville Miller dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
193525 AugustThomas Alva Edison, Jr., dies in a hotel room in Springfield, Massachusetts.
30 October Mina Miller Edison marries Edward Everett Hughes at Chautauqua.
193627 MarchEdward Burkett Miller dies while on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
193718 JanuaryCharles Edison becomes assistant secretary of the navy in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
JuneMina and Edward Hughes embark on a sea voyage to Europe. They return to the United States on September 27.
10 August William Leslie Edison dies of cancer in Wilmington, Delaware.
19402 JanuaryCharles Edison becomes secretary of the navy; resigns in June to run for governor of New Jersey.
19 January Edward Everett Hughes dies; his widow again adopts the name of Mrs. Edison.
16 August John Vincent Miller dies while visiting Chautauqua.
194121 JanuaryCharles Edison becomes governor of New Jersey, serving until January 1944.
194322 June Lewis Alexander Miller dies in Pasadena, California.
194621 November Mary Miller Nichols dies in White Plains, New York.
194724 AugustMina Miller Edison dies at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.
1949 September Michael Edison Sloane dies in a mountain climbing accident in the Austrian Alps.
1950May Charles Edison resigns as president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.; serves as chairman of the board of directors until his retirement in 1961.
1952 22 April Grace Miller Hitchcock, the last surviving child of Lewis and Mary Valinda Miller, dies in Pittsburgh.
196516 April Marion Edison Oeser dies in Norwalk, Connecticut.
196931 July Charles Edison dies at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.
197914 February Madeleine Edison Sloane dies at St. Mary's Hospital in Orange, New Jersey.
199224 November Theodore Edison dies at his home in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey.
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