In 1869 he resigned his Western Union operator's job to devote more time to his inventions
In the spring of 1869, Edison decided to move from Boston to New York in
... [DOC] [TLE] Chronology: 1847-1878 - The Edison Papers [PAR] Works the night shift as a railroad telegrapher near Adrian, Mich., where he 
meets ... MarchApril, Begins work as an operator at the main Western Union 
office in ... articles on his telegraph inventions and on the Boston telegraph 
community.