Who Am I?

My son did his Mystery History presentation today.  His teacher sent home the first three-quarters of his presentation electronically.   I published this post and then realized I had a printout I could type in the missing end so I updated the post later in the evening?  He did a very good job, talking to the audience twelve full minutes from memory, referring to a page of diagrams he'd recreated from the book he read on his famous person.

Good Morning everyone! I hope everyone has had their coffee for the morning to sit and listen to my story next.

I am going to begin by telling you stories about my childhood. I was born on February 11, 1853. As a child I was curious and was very interested in the world around me. I went about it like a scientist. Once I cracked opened a bumblebee’s hive to see what was inside. Another time I watched the bird eat worms and fly off. So I made a mixture of water and mashed worms and gave it to a girl to see if it would make her fly. However, it made her sick and I got in a lot of trouble. Even though I got into trouble I did not stop.

When I was seven we moved to Port Huron. My father worked hard to make money. We were there a short time when I caught a scarlet fever. I had high fever and a rash on my skin. When I was better I realized I couldn’t hear as well. So at school I would wander off. One day I heard my teacher telling someone that I was “addled” which meant that my brain was scrambled. I told this to my mother and she was very furious. I started home school. My mother gave me difficult books to read about history, nature and science. My favorite books was a science book called “A School Compendium of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.”The book was about electricity, batteries, electrical toys and many other things. One part of the book that interested me the most was the information about the ‘Morse Code.’ The code was used to send messages over telegraph wires. I set up a wire from my house to my friends house so we could messages. My interest in telegraphy grew when I went to work on a railroad.

When I was twelve years old I sold newspaper magazines and snacks on a train that traveled from Port Huron to Detroit, Michigan. I also made money by selling things I bought from the Detroit market as well as vegetables from my family farm. When I noticed that a newspaper was throwing out ink and old pieces of type in Detroit I started a small printing press and started selling weekly newspaper. I set up my printing press in the baggage car on the train. However, when a chemical mixture caught fire I was asked to close my printing press on the train. When the Civil war broke out people wanted to read news so I found ways to sell more newspaper.

One day when I saw the train about to hit the stationmaster’s son I dashed onto the tracks and pulled the boy to safety. The stationmaster was very happy and offered to teach me telegraphy. I was very happy to learn since I already knew the Morse code. Telegraphs were very popular and they were sent not only from the railway stations but also from a company called Western Union. I worked for Western Union for few years as a telegrapher. I worked at night at the Western Union and during the day I worked on my inventions. I worked long hours on my inventions. I spent time at a machine shop to make the parts for whatever inventions I was working on. I was very sad when nobody wanted the voting machine I invented. That is when I decided that I will invent things that people wanted and nothing else. So I quit my job at the Western Union and decided to spend more time on inventing things that someone would want.

In 1869 I moved to New York without a job. Since I was already known for my inventions I did not have a difficult time finding a job. A friend and I started our own business. We made machines such as the universal stock printer. I sold the patent for my printer for thirty-thousand dollars to Western Union. My friends and I started our own company with the money we received form Western Union. I not only figured out how to send four messages at the same time but also perfected an electric pen.

One day a young woman named Mary Stilwell came to work at the company. I fell in love with her and three months later we were married. My wife soon found out that I would be spending more time at work than at home. Mary and I had three children. I lovingly called my first two children Dot and Dash after Morse Code.

After six years in New York I wanted a change so I bought two big plots of land in a small farming community in New Jersey called Menlo Park. I built two-story building for my laboratory. I found Menlo Park to be a perfect place for me to think.

Around this time Alexander Graham invented the telephone. I wished I had thought of it first. But, Bell’s telephone had problems. It worked only for short distances and you had to shout really loud to be heard. Western Union asked me to make a better telephone. The telephone needed a better transmitter. The problem with Bell’s transmitter was that it was made of metal so I had to find out what material would work best.

My team and I worked very hard. One day I thought of scrapping a carbon off a glass piece of broken oil lamp. Next I rolled the carbon into two-button shapes. I put one on Bell’s transmitter and another one next to it. I was very excited that my carbon transmitter helped the telephones work better.

Next I wanted to invent a way to record and play back peoples voices called phonograph. My team and I were not in any hurry until we saw an article in an important magazine called Scientific American. In the article it said that I had invented a machine that played the human voice. Now I was in hurry to invent the next invention. I quickly draw a sketch and gave it to my machinist. My machinist knew how to read my sketch and he came back with a model. I added a melody and it worked! I was soooo excited that my phonograph worked the very first time. I was only thirty years old and everyone called me “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”

One day my scientist friends and I decided to go on a vacation by train to Wyoming to see an eclipse of the sun.  During this trip when I saw Platte River rushing by I wantered why no one had thought about using the power of the river's flow to provide electricity to miners who were working nearby.  One of my friends told me that there was a man in Connecticut who was trying to find an interesting way to use the power of elecgricity.  

I wanted to be the first one to imnvent a simple light bulb which gave off a bright, soft glow from a simple filament.   First I had to make a bulb and then to see what type of filament would work best.  Even before I had any idea of how to do this I was bpasting to everyone that I would have elecgtric light of the future.  Six weeks later when I had nothing to show for electricity, people started accusing me of bragging.  My team and I worked hard to fund the right filament and we tried over three thousand different materials.  Six months later, I found the answer.   It was sewing thread covered with carbon and baked at the right temperature.  I was only 33 years old when my lightbulb glowed.

Next I was very sad to lose my wife who died due to an illness when she was only 29 years old.  My children and I stayed in New York since that is where my electricity business was.  A year later I got married again.  My new wife and I had three more children. 

Next I enjoyed spending time with my family, traveling to different places and visiting exhibits that displayed items from my inventions.  I never stopped inventing til the end,  During the last fifteen years of my life I went on many trips with friends like Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs.  We called our trips together, "camping trips."

Last two years of my life I was sick with a number of diseases like diabetes and stomach ulcer.  I died on October 18.  I was eighty-four years old.  On the day of the funeral, the President asked all Americans to turn off their lights for one minute in my honor. 

Well the world when I was alive was very very different.  There was no electric light, no music to listen to, no movies to watch.  I made all of these possible with my inventions.  Even if I say so I was one of the greatest inventors of my time.

Who am I?

The Big Boy Update:  My son, when asked if he needed to be chaperoned for trick-or-treating today said, "Mom, I'm almost nine.  And I always go with Rayan and he's almost ten.   We don't need anyone to go with us."  I explained how his father wasn't sure and if he could convince dad, it was fine with me.   I got a call after the neighborhood event at the clubhouse that my son had disappeared and apparently, he was able to trick-or-treat alone.   He had and he was.   He came home later happy and loaded down with candy.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter ran thirty-six laps for her school fundraiser, "fun run" today.   She has raised a lot of money.   Thank you to everyone who pledged to help her.   Tonight, she didn't want to take her cane to go trick-or-treating.   She really needed to, as in the dark it is helpful for her to be able to discern terrain.   Also, it helps for people to put candy in her basket instead of waiting for her to grab it, expecting her to see it.   She told me, "Mom, I don't need my cane, I'll self-advocate."