Home · On This Day · March 3, 1947
Bell's daughter, a century after inventor's birth
Broadcast Date: March 3, 1947
By telephone, the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell addresses a crowd in Brantford, Ont. celebrating what would have been the phone inventor's 100th birthday. He was "The Great Encourager," she says in this CBC Radio clip to the people gathered at Bell Homestead. It was there that Bell drafted the first sketches of his telephone invention in 1874. Marian Bell grew up in a flurry of invention excitement. As her father worked on countless experiments, he also encouraged Marian's own ideas. "Go ahead and try it," he would say.Bell's daughter, a century after inventor's birth
• Marian "Daisy" Bell (Fairchild) was born Feb. 15, 1880 to Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel Hubbard. The couple had another daughter Elsie, and two sons who died when they were infants.• Marian Fairchild died in 1962.
• Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847. He adopted the second name "Graham" in 1858 out of adoration for a family friend named Alexander Graham.
• The family moved to Brantford, Ont., where Bell eventually invented the telephone.
• Whether Bell was the first to invent the telephone has long been disputed. He patented his telephone on March 7, 1876, just hours before a similar invention by Elisha Gray, a Chicago inventor. Bell won a famous legal battle with Gray over the right to the patent.
• In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives insisted Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci invented a telephone device before Bell.
• The House claimed Meucci ran out of money before he could patent his "teletrefono" in 1871.
• On Aug. 10, 1876, Bell made the first long distance call from the Brantford Homestead to Paris, Ont., using a Gallow's Frame telephone.
• Four years later Bell invented "the photophone" — a device which transported wireless telephone messages. It transmitted sound on a beam of light and was the basis for today's fiber optic systems.
• Bell was a prolific inventor. He created a device to help locate the bullet that assassinated U.S. President James Garfield. When one of his sons died of respiratory complications, Bell devised a "metal jacket vacuum" that was a precursor for the iron lung used by polio victims. He conducted sheep-breeding experiments in an attempt to increase the rate of twin and triplet births. Bell also worked in speech for the deaf, water distillation, hydrofoils and was involved in the famous Silver Dart flight.
• Bell's mother and wife were both deaf.
• In the radio clip, Bell's daughter explains how her father once conducted an experiment at home with pillows and a cat. It was just after he'd heard a cat always lands feet-first. And it did in the experiment.
Also on March 3:
• 1890: Norman Bethune is born in Gravenhurst, Ontario. Dr. Bethune served during two civil wars in Spain and China. He was the first westerner recognized as a hero by China.
• 1962: Cairine Wilson, Canada's first woman senator, dies at age 77. Mackenzie King appointed her to the Senate in 1930.
Bell's daughter, a century after inventor's birth
Medium: Radio
Program: CBC Radio News
Broadcast Date: March 3, 1947
Guest(s): Marian Bell
Duration: 2:25
Photo: National Archives of Canada
Last updated:
Jan. 6, 2011
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Marian Bell Fairchild was my great grandmother, and I had never heard her voice. She died the year I was born, her letters saying she was "waiting for me." Thank you so very much, I am moved.
Submitted by: Marian Bell Whitcomb