Fordice Warner Edison: Full-Time Uncle, Part-Time Mayor
- Dillion Liskai
- Aug 26
- 6 min read
Acknowledgement: I sincerely thank the Lorain County Historical Society, Mayor Jack Bradley, and his executive assistant, Alonna Lopez, for helping me learn more about Fordice and the great city of Lorain! They graciously took the time out of their busy schedules to answer my many, many, MANY questions when they certainly did not have to, and for that, I am truly grateful beyond words!
When I say “Ford”, what do you think of? You might immediately think of Thomas’s best friend and former employee, Henry Ford. You might then think about his company, his cars, the stadium named after him, the hospital system named after him, his museums, and so much more. Although Henry certainly has a lot to be known and remembered for, he isn’t the “Ford” I was referring to in the introductory breath of this article. Before Henry Ford made his name, Thomas Edison’s uncle, Fordice Edison, was making his name right here in our backyard in northern Ohio.
Fordice Warner Edison was born July 13, 1832, in Vienna, Ontario, Canada, to Captain Samuel Ogden Edison Sr. and his second wife, Elizabeth Yokum. He was the twelfth child of Captain Samuel and the fourth of his second marriage. He was only about five when his older half-brother, Samuel Jr., was forced to flee Canada to the United States. Fordice was just a few months shy of his fifteenth birthday when his nephew, Thomas Alva Edison, was born in Milan, Ohio. As Fordice got older, his big brother, Samuel Jr., moved his family (including little Thomas) from Milan, Ohio, to Port Huron, Michigan, in 1854. Fordice, too, would find himself taking up residence in the Maritime Capital of the Great Lakes.
He married Emily Jane Johnston, a Vienna, Ontario resident and Picton, Ontario native, on October 5, 1865. In 1867, they welcomed their first three children, Homer Page Edison, into the world. If that first and middle name sounds familiar, it is because “Homer Page” is the forename and surname of then twenty-year-old Thomas A. Edison’s brother-in-law. Fordice’s “Homer Page” would grow close to the original one as Fordice moved his family to Black River Township, Ohio, only about 30 miles from Milan, Ohio.
Fordice became heavily involved in building a new village along Lake Erie’s southern shore named Lorain. He set up a hardware store in a town that was beginning to grow, thanks in part to hardworking immigrant families involved in shipbuilding and ironworks. Fordice and his brother Simeon, immigrants from Canada, were heavily involved in creating and selling iron. “F.W.” was elected to Lorain’s first village council in 1874 and soon found himself appointed Mayor of Lorain on July 24, 1876, after his predecessor, Henry S. Rockwood, resigned the post. His first term in office lasted only 22 days when Gustavus Bayley was elected to fill the void. However, Bayley resigned a year later, and Fordice was again called upon to be mayor. He would substitute for about two months until Frank B. Vernam filled the vacancy.
A letter Fordice sent to his nephew, Thomas, upon hearing about his phonograph
Around the same time, Fordice began his second appointment as Mayor of Lorain in August 1877, his nephew had just been created. He demonstrated his favorite invention, which would put him on the map: his phonograph. In May 1878, Fordice wrote a letter to Thomas to express his heartfelt congratulations on his massive achievement, stating, “We are all proud of your success and anxious to congratulate you personally. I think I am as happy over your inventions as if they were my own, and I rather suspect we are all inclined to sun ourselves in your reflected light.” Even though he was over the moon for his nephew, he was slightly miffed that Thomas and his family hadn’t visited them in Lorain the last time that Thomas visited his sister Marion in Milan, writing:
“But we object, as a family, to being totally ignored when your folks pass this way! Here we live in a pleasant place between Cleveland and Marion’s, and would have been glad to had you all visited us last fall—and would have done our best to make it as pleasant as our advantages admit of. Sim says your family may go to Lake Superior this summer. If you visit—us first—and then take a boat from here, and if agreeable, some of us may go with you.”
Fordice couldn’t worry too much about whether or not his nephew would visit because the Village of Lorain was beginning to take off, and they were calling him back to lead. He became Mayor of Lorain for a third time in April 1884, but on this occasion, he had been elected by his constituents. While a handful of men served as the Mayor of Lorain twice, Fordice Edison is the only person to ever serve as Mayor of Lorain on three separate occasions. His term ran for two years until April of 1886.
Months after his third term as mayor started in 1884, he married his second wife, Martha C. Bell after his first wife, Emily, had passed away in 1881. Fordice would also be married a third time to Elizabeth Siddorn in 1901. Unfortunately, according to Fordice’s niece, Nora Edison Coombes, one of the “Mrs. Fordice Edisons” had a run-in with the Bayham Lambs in Vienna, Ontario. Although the name “Bayham Lambs” projects a cute and cuddly image, most residents of Vienna argued that they should have been called the “Bayham Wolves” because they were one of the most violent gangs of criminals around. One occasion, when Fordice was gone, one of his wives was tied up in her rocking chair as the Bayham Lambs ransacked the house. She begged and pleaded with them not to take her silverware because it was a family heirloom from her mother, and surprisingly, the rough and tumble Bayham Lambs acquiesced.
Fordice passed away in Lorain on June 23, 1923, at the impressive age of 90. He was buried in Elyria’s Ridgelawn Cemetery next to his first wife, Emily, and two of their three children, Harry and Grace. The small village he had served for many years at its inception had grown considerably. When the 1880 census rolled around, Lorain only had 1,595 residents. By 1920, the city of Lorain had nearly 40,000 residents. Today, Lorain is the ninth largest city in Ohio with more than 65,000 residents.
In preparation for this article, I had the great privilege and honor to talk to the current Mayor of Lorain, Jack Bradley, to get an insight into the job and the people he was elected to lead. I asked him to describe Lorain’s past, present, and future in one word. The word he chose was perfect: “proud”. Pride is the thread that ties generations of Lorainites together from the shipbuilders and ironworkers of Fordice Edison’s time to today’s resilient and hardworking residents. Fordice once wrote to his famous nephew, “I rather suspect we are all inclined to sun ourselves in your reflected light.” However, if history is any guide, it’s clear that Fordice created a light of his own in a growing lakeside village. That light still shines in Lorain today, reflected in the pride of a community that remembers where it came from.
Sources Used and Encouraged for Further Reading
Archives of Ontario. n.d. “The War of 1812: Detroit Frontier, 1812: Victory.” Archives of Ontario. Accessed June 8, 2025. https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/1812/detroit-victory.aspx
Edison, Thomas A. 2011. The Quotable Edison. Edited by Michele W. Albion. University Press of Florida.
Fahey, Curtis. 2015. “Amnesty Act.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/amnesty-act#:~:text=Amnesty%20Act-,Amnesty%20Act%2C%201%20February%201849%2C%20offered%20a%20pardon%20to%20all,any%20exiled%20rebels%20who%20petitioned
Homfray, Irving L., and Canadian Military Institute. 1908. Officers of the British Forces in Canada During The War of 1812-15. Welland, Ontario: Welland Tribune Print. https://www.loc.gov/item/10005045/
Josephson, Matthew. 1992. Edison: A Biography. Wiley.
Pace, Shandi. 2022. “Vienna, Ontario – Small Town Canada.” Small Town Canada. https://www.smalltowncanada.ca/vienna-ontario/
Rayne, M.L. 1895. “Samuel Edison: The Venerable Father of the Great Inventor.” Detroit Free Press (Detroit), August 6, 1895. https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/SC95040a1#?xywh=-57%2C465%2C392%2C371&cv=1
Simonds, William A. 2007. Edison - His Life, His Work, His Genius. Simon & Schuster.
Stamps, Richard B., Bruce Hawkins, and Nancy E. Wright. 1994. Search for the House in the Grove: Archaeological Excavation of the Boyhood Homesite of Thomas A. Edison in Port Huron, Michigan, 1976-1994. Cultural Dynamics.
United States National Park Service. 2015. "He is a coward.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/articles/surrender-of-detroit.htm
Dillon Liskai, a native of Clyde, Ohio, is a Bowling Green State University junior. He is pursuing a degree in Adolescent to Young Adult (AYA) Integrated Social Studies Education, specializing in History.
Dillon has been a Thomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum tour guide for three years. When not at school or the museum, he enjoys cheering on the Bowling Green Falcons, spending time with friends and family, and exploring local history.
Have a question for Dillon? Reach out via email at dliskai@tomedison.org!