One Travelin’ Man: Uncle Simeon Ogden Edison’s Story
- Dillion Liskai
- Aug 12
- 6 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
Throughout his life, Thomas Alva Edison moved around the country a lot. I joke with guests on our tours that if they name a city east of the Mississippi River, there is a good chance that he either lived there or worked there for at least a day before being fired. In reality, that jest is not too awfully far from the truth. Maybe a future article will be dedicated to Thomas’s exploits in that realm. Still, this article is dedicated to the gentleman whose own travels may have rubbed off on Thomas: his uncle, Simeon Ogden Edison. Simeon bounced around from place to place and spent a spell living with his family in Milan, Ohio, at the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace in the early 1900s. Although many of his belongings are still in the home all these years later, many do not know who “Uncle Sim” was.
Simeon Ogden Edison was born June 12, 1826, in Vienna, Ontario, Canada, to Captain Samuel Ogden Edison Sr. and his second wife, Elizabeth Yokum. He was the ninth child of Captain Samuel and the first of his new marriage. When Simeon was only 11 years old, his older half-brother, Sam Jr., took part in the Mackenzie Rebellion and, as a result, was forced to flee across the border to Milan, Ohio. While Sam Jr. made his way to the United States, most of his siblings were more than content to stay put in Canada, but Simeon decided to live in the Buckeye State and first settled in the Cleveland area.
He soon began work as an iron dealer and married Julia M. Redington on April 17, 1855. Unfortunately, she passed away just a year later in July of 1856. He then met Julia Andrus Tilden, a native of Milan, Ohio, and married her in 1862. They had two children, a son named Richard and a daughter named Edith. Just like his nephew Thomas, Simeon was also an inventor. In 1884, Simeon set up the Edison Lock Company in Cleveland, which specialized in creating burglar-proof furniture and sash locks. One of those burglar-proof pieces still resides in the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace, and for many years, it was one of the first things guests would see as they walked in through the front door.
Simeon’s traveling rosewood desk features a plaque with his signature. You can also see it folded out, and you can even get a glimpse at its secret storage compartment—source: Thomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum.
Simeon owned a beautiful rosewood traveling desk, which, when closed, was emblazoned with Simeon’s signature on the top and looked like a small wooden suitcase to the average eye. Unlocking with a key and unfolding would expand into a desk you could write on. It had holders for ink and for pens and plenty of room for a few papers, and to make the traveling desk even more “burglar-proof” than it already was, it had two secret compartments, one on either side of the desk, where Simeon could store things such as jewelry or money. As alluded to in the previous paragraph, the traveling desk was displayed in the sitting room for many years and is still in the Birthplace awaiting repairs.
After setting up his Edison Lock Company in 1884, he soon began to do some more traveling. In 1888, Simeon and his family moved to New York City, and he soon became involved with his world-famous nephew in many ways. Thomas gave Simeon $10,000 to start another company in 1890, and four years later, Simeon was sent to Germany by Thomas to meet and “vet” Marion’s (Thomas Edison’s Daughter) fiancé, Karl Oscar Oeser. Simeon also helped Thomas extensively with his mining enterprises, and he even patented a way to turn fibrous agricultural refuse into biofuel briquettes. He would then, once again, move his family to Ohio. Still, in 1906, he moved to his wife Julia’s hometown of Milan. Instead of moving into any random home in Milan, he moved into the house his older half-brother, Samuel Jr., built over sixty years prior: the Edison Birthplace.
Much of the upstairs furniture in Thomas’s parents' bedroom belonged to Simeon and his wife, Julia. The dressers are made out of walnut, and considering that almost all of the pieces in the parents' bedroom are made out of walnut, we at the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace often refer to that room as the “Walnut Room”. The pieces are incredibly ornate, with the most exquisite marble tops. Additionally, the bedside chair at the corner of the room belonged to Julia, and it could have been pulled up to the bed to talk to or care for those who may be bedridden, but it also could have been used by women wearing corsets to help them get their slippers on their feet.
In Milan, Simeon and Julia were active in everyday life, and the family attended St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Simeon and his daughter Edith contacted Thomas about getting St. Luke's a furnace and the church's electric lights. Simeon’s family would live in Milan until 1911, when Julia Tilden Edison passed away in the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace on February 16, 1911. Her husband, Simeon, would then move in with his daughter, who lived not too far from Thomas in East Orange, New Jersey, and he, too, would pass away five years later at the impressive age of 90. Today, Simeon and Julia are buried beside each other, only a short walk from the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace in the Milan Cemetery.
Uncle Simeon may not have lit up the world like his famous nephew, but he certainly had a bit of a spark of his own. From iron dealing to inventing burglar-proof locks, to vetting European fiancés on behalf of the Edison family, Simeon had a life full of adventure and travel. Ultimately, he returned to Milan to the house his brother built. History has a weird way of being poetic like that. His story may not come with as many patents or any massive laboratories like Thomas’, but his story can still be seen and felt right here in Milan, nestled in rosewood traveling desks, walnut dressers, and the warm corners of memory that fill the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace to this very day.
Sources Used and Encouraged for Further Reading
Edison, Simeon O. 1902. US Patent 704,698: Process Of Treating Fibers Of Annual Growth For Industrial Purposes, Patent. United States of America: n.p. https://patents.google.com/patent/US704698A/en
The Rocky Mountain News. 1916. “Edison's Uncle Dies.” The Rocky Mountain News (Denver), September 20, 1916, 6. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19160920-01.2.88&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0------
Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences' Thomas A. Edison Papers. 1908. “Letter from Simeon Ogden Edison to Thomas Alva Edison, May 22nd, 1908.” The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition. https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D0814AAQ#?xywh=265%2C801%2C839%2C523
Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences' Thomas A. Edison Papers. 1916. “Obituary, Simeon Ogden Edison, September 19th, 1916.” The Thomas A. Edison Digital Edition. https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/SB515X081D1#?xywh=-455%2C231%2C2203%2C1373
Rutgers University-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences' Thomas A. Edison Papers. n.d. “Edison, Miller, and Affiliated Families.” Thomas A. Edison Papers. Accessed June 26, 2025. https://edison.rutgers.edu/images/pdf-files/Edison-Miller%20Families.pdf
Sandusky Register. 1911. “Edison's Aunt Dies.” Sandusky Register (Sandusky), February 17, 1911, 10.
The Sandusky Star-Journal. 1911. “Aged Aunt Of Noted Inventor Died This Morning At Milan.” The Sandusky Star-Journal (Sandusky), February 16, 1911, 1.
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 the past 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!