How did thomas edison propose marriage to his second wife, mina miller? Thomas Edison is one of the most prolific inventors in history and had many families. It’s not uncommon for famous people to have affairs, but what set Edison apart was his habit of marrying the woman he was having an affair with. Thomas Edison proposed marriage to his first wife before he finished college so that she might support him through school without worrying about her health during pregnancy and after childbirth.
They were married in 1871, but because they had different interests, they often spent time apart during their marriage. The couple divorced in 1884 after being married for ten years. To this day, Thomas Edison has a significant influence on the world from his many inventions, but he was not always a great husband to his second wife despite being married for nearly ten years.
Early life:
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on February 11th 1847. He grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a stockbroker and an inventor. His mother was responsible for bearing him into the world after her husband died shortly after their marriage. Thomas began to show interest in inventing as early as age seven when he built an engine that blew out steam whistles and had two dolls dressed up like horses that went around a pole at the top of the garage making noises.
He continued to build machines at age twelve and developed a business selling them to factories in the town. Then, in 1859, Thomas Edison’s mother died, leaving him with a total of $300 in debt and no way of paying it off. So, having to take over his debt by providing for himself, Edison had to sell all of his inventions from the age of thirteen.
By 1865 he had paid off his debt and was able to lend money to others for their inventions, making his fortune as an inventor. Then, in 1870, Edison built a telegraph machine that was used for sending messages across the American continent, where he met Maria Newton Thompson, who later became his second wife after proposing marriage within three months of meeting her.
How did Thomas Edison propose marriage to his second wife?
Edison’s first wife was Maria Newton Thompson, a cousin who he met while residing in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts. They met when she was living with her aunt and soon became friends due to both being interested in inventing, and it was not uncommon for women to be inventors during their time. When they were introduced, they found they had many similarities, such as having blue eyes and blonde hair.
During their dating, Edison proposed marriage to her in 1869, following which they were married three months later on December 27th 1869. Edison began his studies in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he arrived in Boston on January 1st 1870. Edison proposed marriage to his second wife after they met while she lived with her uncle, who worked at Western Union, where he needed to send and receive telegrams daily.
She lived in New York in a rented house and worked as a sales clerk when she met Thomas Edison. He was working for Western Union himself but still sent telegrams for his father’s business. Marrying on February 24th 1871, their wedding day lasted four days from deciding to marry, arranging the ceremony and reception of which their marriage certificate still exists today in the Ohio Historical Society.
What about his second wife?
After almost ten years of marriage, Edison and his second wife were divorced on December 26th 1884, after being together for nine years. During their marriage, Edison took a great interest in the emerging science and technology of the time. They both had strong ideas in common while married; it just wasn’t enough to sustain a great life between them. While they loved each other deeply, Thomas Edison had trouble with his wife and difficulty focusing when he married her. As early as 1874, Edison’s wife would publicly call him a “cold-hearted man”.
Edison’s wife also felt he was spending too much time on his work and less time paying attention to her. During the 1880s, Thomas Edison studied the latest developments in science and technology, which included a great interest in the patent system. Thomas Edison proposed marriage to his second wife while living in Port Huron, Michigan, where they both worked as telegraphers. Unfortunately, in the few years before their divorce, her health was declining due to kidney problems and high consumption of alcohol which caused their marriage to be strained.
