Albany lies along the Great Southern Railway and the South Western and Albany highways to Perth-Fremantle, 240 miles (386 km) northwest. The town serves an area of wine growing and dairy, beef, lamb, fruit, and potato farming.
Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. (1804â1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810â1871, born in Chenango County, New York).
His family moved away in 1854 when Thomas was seven. Edison returned to Milan on three occasions before his death. On March 4, 1896, while attending his father's funeral, he visited his childhood home in Milan and then spent the afternoon with his sister (Mrs.