Edward Francis Wilson (1844 - 1915)

Born 7 Dec 1844 in Islington, London, England

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Frances (Spooner) Wilson — married 3 Jun 1868 in Langford, Oxfordshire, England

Descendants

Died 11 May 1915 at age 70 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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Biography

WILSON, EDWARD FRANCIS, Church of England clergyman, educator, ethnologist, and author; b. 7 Dec. 1844 in Islington (London), England, son of Daniel Wilson and Lucy Sarah Atkins; m. 3 June 1868 Frances (Fanny) Spooner in Langford, Gloucestershire, England, and they had six daughters and five sons; d. 11 May 1915 in Victoria.

Edward F. Wilson was born into a well-to-do family, long prominent in evangelical circles in England. His paternal grandfather was the bishop of Calcutta and his father a leading Church of England clergyman. Rather than attending Oxford and being ordained, he studied farming and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1865.Three days after his arrival, however, Wilson decided to become a missionary. During a stay of several weeks that summer on a reserve, he became “infatuated with the Indians” and determined that his work would be with them. For two years he studied at Huron College in London, and then went back to England, where he was ordained deacon on 22 Dec. 1867. Six months later he married Frances Spooner, also the child of a clerical family.

Wilson returned to Huron to establish a mission at Sarnia. In 1869 Wilson and his wife visited Sault Ste Marie and the nearby Garden River reserve, where they were entertained by Ojibwa missionary Henry Pahtahquahong Chase. Wilson found “something very attractive and fascinating about this first visit to the wilds of Algoma.” Two years later he decided to move north. The CMS had wanted him to go to Manitoba but agreed to support him at Garden River for a year. In 1872, he was informed by the CMS that it did not wish to “undertake a permanent Mission among the Canadian Indians.” Wilson broke with the society and obtained a promise of an annual grant from the Colonial and Continental Church Society, which funded schools throughout the British colonies.

Wilson would remain principal of two residential schools until he finally retired from missionary work early in 1893.

In 1885 the uprising by Métis and natives, led by Louis Riel, and his growing disillusionment with educational work caused Wilson to reassess his ideas. During a trip to the northwest in July, he was present at the conclusion of Riel’s trial and visited Poundmaker [Pītikwahanapiwīyin] in prison.

Wilson came to think that the destruction of native autonomy and the promotion of assimilation might be wrong. In a series of publications he praised many positive features of native culture, placing the blame for “the Indian problem” on whites.

In 1892 Wilson announced his intention to retire from missionary work. The reasons are not entirely clear. Failing health, “a certain feeling of weariness,” and a perceived lack of support from his bishop all played a part. He moved to British Columbia and in 1894 settled on Salt Spring Island as a pastor to the white community. He also farmed and cultivated an orchard on the island. Between 1903 and 1908 he compiled a memoir of his life, which like many of his articles is illustrated with his own sketches. He died in Victoria in 1915 after several years in California, where he had moved because of ill-health. He and his wife are buried on Salt Spring Island.

Sources

• David A. Nock, “WILSON, EDWARD FRANCIS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed June 5, 2015, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wilson_edward_francis_14E.html.
• Wilson Collection at the Salt Spring Archives.
• "Canada Census, 1871," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M47H-KYC : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward F Wilson, Sarnia, Lambton, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 26, line 1; Library and Archives Canada film number C-9896, Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 4,396,675.
• "Canada Census, 1881," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVDB-ZC3 : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward F Wilson, Sault Ste-Marie, Algoma, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 11; Library and Archives Canada film number C-13282, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 1,375,918.
• "Canada Census, 1891," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW2Z-HV8 : accessed 5 October 2015), Francis E Wilson, Sault East, Algoma, Ontario, Canada; Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148125.
• "Canada Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHVK-8ZG : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward Wilson, H, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; citing p. 4, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVLZ-6RS : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward F Wilson, Santa Monica Ward 6, Los Angeles, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 344, sheet 10A, family 224, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,374,100.
• "British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FL2W-Q92 : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward Frances Wilson, 1915.
• "BillionGraves Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KN7K-YZM : accessed 5 October 2015), Edward Francis Wilson, died 11 May 1915; citing BillionGraves (http://www.billiongraves.com : 2012), Burial at Saint Mark Anglican I, Salt Spring Island, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.