John Wesley Powell was born on March 24, 1834, in Mount Morris, New York. His father, Joseph Powell, was both a farmer and a Methodist Minister. His mother, Mary Powell was a missionary. Powell being the oldest of four children had a lot of responsibilities on their family farm. He and his family bounced around moving from New York, to Ohio, to Wisconsin, and finally landed in Boone County, Illinois in 1851. Growing up, Powell originally took interest in theology like his father. However, after meeting George Crookham, a natural scientist, he was influenced to focus more upon science.

Powell landed his first job in 1852, as an elementary school teacher after leaving his family’s farm and going off on his own. Though he never received a degree, while teaching, he decided to further his own education by attending classes at Illinois Institute in Wheaton, Illinois College in Jacksonville, and Oberlin College in Ohio. While attending these universities, Powell studied ancient Greek and Latin.

 

Starting in 1855, Powell began going on adventures westward where he collected a variety of shells and minerals. By 1859, Powell had walked across Wisconsin, rowed the Mississippi River from St. Anthony to the sea, rowed down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to St. Louis, Missouri, and had gone down the Illinois River and then up the Mississippi and the Des Moines rivers to central Iowa. Due to the Civil War, Powell had to take a break from his expeditions and ended up enlisting in the Union Army. On April 6, 1862, Powell lost his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

After Powell’s career in the army was cut short, he returned to geological expeditioning, down and married a woman named Emma Dean. He and Emma, had one child together and named her Mary Powell. Powell was also given the position as professor of geology at Illinois Wesleyan University, and lectured at Illinois Normal University and assisted in the foundation of  the Illinois Museum of Natural History. In 1881, Powell acquired the position as second director of the U.S Geological Survey. Powell retired in 1894, and died in 1902 of a cerebral hemorrhage.