Editing Alexander Graham Bell (section)

==Family life==
{{Further|Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia}}
[[File:Alexander Graham Bell and family.jpg|thumb|alt=A distinguished bearded man, his young elegant wife next to him and their two young daughters poise for a formal portrait|Alexander Graham Bell, his wife [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard]], and their daughters Elsie (left) and Marian ca. 1885]]
[[File:Brodhead-Bell-Morton Mansion.jpg|thumb|alt=A three-story gray mansion, with a covered front entrance|The Brodhead–Bell mansion, the Bell family residence in Washington, D.C., from 1882 to 1889{{sfn|Bruce|1990|pp=297–299}}]]

On July 11, 1877, a few days after the [[Bell Telephone Company]] was established, Bell married [[Mabel Gardiner Hubbard|Mabel Hubbard]] (1857–1923) at the Hubbard estate in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. His wedding present to his bride was to turn over 1,487 of his 1,497 shares in the newly formed Bell Telephone Company.{{sfn|Eber|1991|p=44}} Shortly thereafter, the newly-weds embarked on a year-long honeymoon in Europe. During that excursion, Bell took a handmade model of his telephone with him, making it a "working holiday". The courtship had begun years earlier; however, Bell waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Although the telephone appeared to be an "instant" success, it was not initially a profitable venture and Bell's main sources of income were from lectures until after 1897.{{sfn|Dunn|1990|p=28}} One unusual request exacted by his fiancée was that he use "Alec" rather than the family's earlier familiar name of "Aleck". From 1876, he would sign his name "Alec Bell".{{sfn|Mackay|1997|p=120}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. A.G. Bell Dies. Inspired Telephone. Deaf Girl's Romance With Distinguished Inventor Was Due to Her Affliction |work=The New York Times |date=January 4, 1923 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/01/04/105839500.html?pageNumber=19}}</ref> They had four children:
* Elsie May Bell (1878–1964) who married [[Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor]] of [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] fame.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor Dies |work=The New York Times |agency=Canadian Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/02/05/archives/dr-gilbert-h-grosvenor-dies-head-of-national-geographic-90-editor.html |date=February 5, 1966 |access-date=September 18, 2015 |url-access=subscription  |quote=Dr. [[Gilbert H. Grosvenor]] ... died on the [[Cape Breton Island]] estate once owned by his father-in-law, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor Dead |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/27/mrs-gilbert-grosvenor-dead.html |date=December 27, 1964 |access-date=September 18, 2015}}</ref>
* Marian Hubbard Bell (1880–1962) who was referred to as "Daisy". Married [[David Fairchild]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grosvenor |first1=Edwin S. |first2=Morgan |last2=Wesson |title=Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone |location=New York |publisher=Harry N. Abrahms |date=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb00gros/page/104 104] |isbn=978-0-8109-4005-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb00gros/page/104 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. David Fairchild, 82, Dead; Daughter of Bell, Phone Inventor |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/09/25/archives/mrs-david-fairchild-82-dead-daughter-of-bell-phone-inventor.html |date=September 25, 1962 |agency=Canadian Press |url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{refn|Marian was born only days after Bell and his assistant [[Charles Sumner Tainter|Sumner Tainter]] had successfully tested their new wireless telecommunication invention at their [[Volta Laboratory and Bureau|Volta Laboratory]], one which Bell would name as his greatest achievement. Bell was so ecstatic that he wanted to jointly name his new invention and his new daughter [[Photophone]] (Greek: "''light–sound''"),{{sfn|Grosvenor|Wesson|1997|p=104}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Carson |first=Mary Kay |date=2007 |title=Alexander Graham Bell: Giving Voice To The World |url=https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb0000cars |url-access=registration |series=Sterling Biographies |location=New York |publisher=Sterling Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb0000cars/page/77 77] |isbn=978-1-4027-3230-0 |oclc=182527281 }}</ref> Bell wrote: "Only think!—Two babies in one week! Mabel's baby was light enough at birth but mine was LIGHT ITSELF! Mabel's baby screamed inarticulately but mine spoke with distinct enunciation from the first." Bell's suggested scientific name for their new infant daughter did not go over well with Marian's mother, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard Bell.{{sfn|Grosvenor|Wesson|1997|p=104}}|group=N}}
* Two sons who died in infancy (Edward in 1881 and Robert in 1883).
The Bell family home was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when Bell's father-in-law bought a house in Washington, D.C.; in 1882 he bought a home in the same city for Bell's family, so they could be with him while he attended to the numerous court cases involving patent disputes.{{sfn|Gray|2006|pp=202–205}}

Bell was a [[British subject]] throughout his early life in Scotland and later in Canada until 1882 when he became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States. In 1915, he characterized his status as: "I am not one of those [[hyphenated American]]s who claim allegiance to two countries."<ref name="bruce1990">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLLWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT395|title=Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude|first=Robert V.|last=Bruce|date=March 15, 2020|publisher=Plunkett Lake Press|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2021}}{{sfn|Bruce|1990|p=90}} Despite this declaration, Bell has been proudly claimed as a "native son" by all three countries he resided in: the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom<!-- Bell also lived in London, so 'UK' is more appropriate than 'Scotland' -->.{{sfn|Bruce|1990|pp=471–472}}

By 1885, a new summer retreat was contemplated. That summer, the Bells had a vacation on [[Cape Breton Island]] in Nova Scotia, Canada,  spending time at the small village of [[Baddeck, Nova Scotia|Baddeck]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bethune |first=Jocelyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YmtoPgAACAAJ |title=Historic Baddeck |series=(Images of our Past) |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |publisher=Nimbus Publishing |date=2009 |page=2 |isbn=978-1-55109-706-0 }}</ref> Returning in 1886, Bell started building an estate on a point across from Baddeck, overlooking [[Bras d'Or Lake]].{{sfn|Bethune|2009|p=92}} By 1889, a large house, christened ''The Lodge'' was completed and two years later, a larger complex of buildings, including a new laboratory,{{sfn|Bethune|2009|p=2}} were begun that the Bells would name [[Beinn Bhreagh]] ([[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]: ''Beautiful Mountain'') after Bell's ancestral [[Scottish Highlands|Scottish highlands]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Tulloch |first=Judith |title=The Bell Family in Baddeck: Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Bell in Cape Breton |location=Halifax, Nova Scotia |publisher=Formac Publishing |date=2006 |pages=25–27 |isbn=978-0-88780-713-8 }}</ref>{{refn|Under the direction of the Boston architects, [[Cabot, Everett & Mead]], a Nova Scotia company, Rhodes, Curry & Company, carried out the actual construction.|group=N}} Bell also built the [[Bell Boatyard]] on the estate, employing up to 40 people building experimental craft as well as wartime lifeboats and workboats for the [[Royal Canadian Navy]] and pleasure craft for the Bell family. He was an enthusiastic boater, and Bell and his family sailed or rowed a long series of vessels on [[Bras d'Or Lake]], ordering additional vessels from the [[H.W. Embree and Sons]] boatyard in [[Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia]]. In his final, and some of his most productive years, Bell split his residency between Washington, D.C., where he and his family initially resided for most of the year, and Beinn Bhreagh, where they spent increasing amounts of time.{{Sfn|MacLeod|1999|p=22}}

Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes, but ''Beinn Bhreagh'' would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiments that his annual stays lengthened. Both Mabel and Bell became immersed in the [[Baddeck]] community and were accepted by the villagers as "their own".{{sfn|Bethune|2009|p=2}}{{refn| In one memorable incident, the newly arrived Bells were walking down one of Baddeck's central streets when Bell peered into a storefront window and saw a frustrated shopkeeper fiddling with his problematic telephone. Bell quickly disassembled it and effected a repair, to the owner's amazement. When asked how he was able to do so Bell only needed to introduce himself.|group=N}} The Bells were still in residence at ''Beinn Bhreagh'' when the [[Halifax Explosion]] occurred on December 6, 1917. Mabel and Bell mobilized the community to help victims in Halifax.{{Sfn|Tulloch|2006|p=42}}