The
BIRTH and BABYHOOD
OF THE
TELEPHONE
by
Thomas A. Watson
Assistant to Alexander Graham Bell
(An address delivered before the Third Annual Convention of the Telephone Pioneers of America at Chicago, October 17, 1913)
Information Department
AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
Thomas A. Watson
1854-1934
Biography of
THOMAS A. WATSON
Thomas A. Watson was born on January 18, 1854, inSalem, Massachusetts, and died December 13, 1934, atmore than four-score years. At the age of 13 he left schooland went to work in a store. Always keenly interested inlearning more and in making the most of all he learned,every new experience was to him, from his childhood on,an opening door into a larger, more beautiful and morewonderful world. This was the key to the continuousvariety that gave interest to his life.
In 1874 he obtained employment in the electrical shopof Charles Williams, Jr., at 109 Court Street, Boston.Here he met Alexander Graham Bell, and the telephonechapter in his life began. This he has told in the littlebook herewith presented. In 1881, having well earned arest from the unceasing struggle with the problems ofearly telephony, and being now a man of means, he resignedhis position in the American Bell Telephone Companyand spent a year in Europe. On his return hestarted a little machine shop for his own pleasure, at hisplace in East Braintree, Massachusetts. From this grewthe Fore River Ship and Engine Company, which did itslarge share of building the U. S. Navy of the SpanishWar. In 1904 he retired from active business.
When 40 years of age and widely known as a shipbuilder,he went to college, taking special courses ingeology and biology at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology. At the same time he specialized in literature.These studies dominated his later years, leading himin extensive travels all over the world, and at homeextending to others the inspiration of a genial simplicityof life and of a love for science, literature and all thatis fine in life.
The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone
By Thomas A. Watson
I am to speak to you of the birth and babyhood of the telephone,and something of the events which preceded that important occasion.These are matters that must seem to you ancient history;in fact, they seem so to me, although the events all happened lessthan 40 years ago, in the years 1874 to 1880.
The occurrences of which I shall speak, lie in my mind as a splendiddrama, in which it was my great privilege to play a part. I shalltry to put myself back into that wonderful play, and tell you itsstory from the same attitude of mind I had then—the point of viewof a mere boy, just out of his apprenticeship as an electro-mechanician,intensely interested in his work, and full of boyish hope andenthusiasm. Therefore, as it must be largely a personal narrative,I shall ask you to excuse my many “I’s” and “my’s” and to be