Powell, Israel Wood

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: John Lutz, “POWELL, ISRAEL WOOD,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/powell_israel_wood_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Doctor, politician, Indian superintendent, and businessman; b. 27 April 1836 in Colborne, Norfolk County, Upper Canada, son of Israel Wood Powell, a merchant, and Melinda Boss; brother of Walker Powell; m. 25 Jan. 1865 Jane (Jennie) Branks in Victoria, and they had five sons and four daughters; d. there 25 Feb. 1915.
    • Israel Wood Powell was tutored in anatomy and physiology by Dr Charles William Covernton for three years at Port Dover, Upper Canada, and in 1856 he enrolled in the medical faculty of McGill College in Montreal. After graduating in 1860 he returned to Port Dover, where he commenced a medical practice. Less than two years later, he headed for New Zealand, but news of gold discoveries in the Cariboo district of British Columbia diverted him. He arrived in Victoria on 13 May 1862 and two weeks later opened an office in the Anglo-American Hotel.
    • Powell’s professional status and active participation in community organizations made him well known. In 1863, slightly over a year after his arrival, he was elected to the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island on a platform that included responsible government and free public schools.
    • As early as 1866 Powell, with his colleague Amor De Cosmos, had proposed confederation with the Canadian colonies. His long-standing support landed him the position of superintendent of Indian affairs in British Columbia on 17 Oct. 1872. Since the federal government believed that military authority would be necessary in dealing with native people, he was also made a lieutenant-colonel in the militia. Powell occupied the superintendent’s post for 17 years and put his stamp on Indian affairs in the Canadian province with the largest aboriginal population.
    • More sympathetic to native people than most of his contemporaries were, Powell supported claims to land and justice so long as they were consistent with his goal of assimilation. He was a constant critic of the provincial government’s resistance to providing aboriginal people with land and water rights, and he fought for the establishment of reserves so that Indians would have a sound economic base.
    • When the Medical Act was passed in 1886, Powell was elected the first president of the Medical Council of British Columbia. An active lobbyist for a provincial university, in 1890 he was appointed the first chancellor of the University of British Columbia, before the institution existed. Rivalry between Vancouver Island and the mainland over its location, together with financial difficulties, scuttled the university, which would not be resurrected in his lifetime.
  • Grandson of Proven Loyalist in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6556
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93827764/israel-wood-powell