Thomas Edison proposed to his second wife in Morse code.

Famous Figures

S ome proposals are more memorable than others. Take, for instance, Thomas Edison's second marriage, which began in an appropriately scientific manner when the inventor proposed to Mina Miller via Morse code — and she said "yes" in the same way. The two used Morse code to speak in secret even in the presence of others, and it's believed that he tapped the proposal on her hand.

The two were wed on February 24, 1886, when she was 20 and he was 39; Edison had previously been married to Mary Stilwell from 1871 until her death in 1884. Miller became the stepmother of three children upon the nuptials, though it wasn't an easy adjustment. Edison's daughter Marion, who was only seven years her stepmother's junior, described Miller as "too young to be a mother but too old to be a chum." Edison and Miller went on to have three more children: Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore. (Edison's affinity for Morse code didn't end with his marriage proposal: Marion's nickname was Dot, while her brother Thomas was known as Dash.)

While falling in love with Miller, Edison referred to her as the "Belle of Akron" and once wrote in his diary, "Got thinking about Mina and came near to being run over by a street car." She referred to herself as the "home executive" and was the legal owner of their house in order to protect it from potential seizure due to Edison's debts. Their marriage lasted nearly half a century until Edison's death in 1931.

Could 2026 Be the Year of the E-Bike?

Whether you're commuting to work or headed out for an adventure, an e-bike lets you get there with a lot more fun. Upway offers certified e-bikes from brands like Trek and Specialized for hundreds less than buying new. Each bike is expertly refurbished, quality-tested, and backed by a warranty, so the quality feels solid without the full new-bike price.

See Bikes

*This content is brought to you by our sponsor, which helps keep our content free.

By the Numbers

Patents held by Thomas Edison

1,093

Years Edison spent in school

Did you know?

Edison believed his hearing loss helped him focus.

No one knows exactly what led to Edison's hearing loss at age 12, though a series of childhood ear infections and even a potential bout of scarlet fever have been pointed to as potential causes. Edison himself shared a fanciful story in which a train conductor lifted him by the ears, whereupon, he said, "I felt something snap inside my head and the deafness started from that time and has progressed ever since …. Earache came first, then a little deafness, and this deafness increased until at the theatre I could hear only a few words now and then." In any event, he believed that being completely deaf in one ear and mostly deaf in the other made it easier to concentrate on his work, claiming, "My deafness has not been a handicap, but a help to me."