J.W. Spencer : his life in Canada, and his work on preglacial river valleys

Geoscience Canada, June, 2004 by Gerard V. Middleton

SUMMARY

J.W. Spencer, born and buried in Dundas, Ontario, was a pioneer Canadian geomorphologist. After attending school in Dundas, he moved to Hamilton where he worked in a pharmacy, and was encouraged by local amateur geologists. He attended McGill University from 1871 to 1874, studied under William Dawson and Bernard Harrington, and graduated in the newly reorganized Applied Sciences program. He spent the summer of 1874 working as Robert Bell's assistant in Manitoba, and the following summer working in the Michigan copper mines as an assistant to a mine engineer, Luther Emerson. He obtained a position as science teacher at Hamilton Collegiate Institute (Fig. 1) in 1876. In 1877 he submitted his thesis on Michigan copper deposits to the university at G6ttingen, Germany and that summer he visited the university, passed his oral examinations and was awarded the Ph.D., becoming the second Canadian to earn a doctorate in geology. In 1880 he became Professor at King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia. He concentrated his geological studies on the region around his birthplace at the head of Lake Ontario: at first mainly Paleozoic geology and paleontology, but by 1880 he had switched decisively to surficial geology, particularly the preglacial drainage of Lakes Erie and Ontario. In 1880 he travelled extensively in the United States and attended the AAAS meeting in Boston, where he met J.P. Lesley, who encouraged him to continue his studies of preglacial rivers. In 1882 he accepted a position as Professor and Director of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Missouri.

[FIGURE 1 OMMITED]

RESUME

J.W. Spencer qui est ne eta ete inhume chez lui a Dundas en Ontario a ete un geomorphologue canadien qui a fait oeuvre de pionnier. Apres avoir ete 5. l'ecole a Dundas, il a demenage 5. Hamilton ou il a travaille dans une pharmacie, et c'est a ce moment que des geologues amateurs l'ont encourage a aller de l'avant. Il a frequente l'Universite McGill de 1871 a 1874, oh il a recu les enseignements de William Dawson et dc Bernard Harrington, et suivi avec succes la formation du programme nouvellement refondu en sciences appliquees. Durant l'ete de 1874, il a ete l'assistant de Robert Bell au Manitoba et, l'ete suivant, il a travaille dans les mines de cuivre du Michigan ou il a ete l'assistant Luther Emerson, ingenieur minier. En 1876, il a obtenu le poste de professeur de science a l'Institut collegial Hamilton (Fig. 1). En 1877, il a soumis sa these sur les gisements de cuivre du Michigan a l'universite de G6ttingen en Allemagne, et durant l'ete il s'est rendu a l'universite, y a passe ses examens oraux, puis a obtenu son Ph.D., devenant le deuxieme Canadien a obtenir un doctorat en geologie. En 1880, il est devenu professeur au King's College, a Windsor en Nouvelle-Ecosse. Il a concentre ses recherches geologiques sur la region de son lieu de naissance, a la source du lac Ontario : il s'est d'abord principalement interesse la geologie et a la paleontologie du Paldozoique, mais en 1880 ses interets avaient carrement change pour se porter sur la geologie de la surface, particulierement le drainage preglaciaire des lacs Ontario et Erie. En 1880, il a beaucoup voyage aux Etats-Unis, participant au congres de I'AAAS (association etasunienne pour l'avancement des sciences) a Boston, ou il a rencontre J. E Lesley qui l'a encourage a continuer ses recherches sur les cours d'eau prd-glaciaires. En 1882, il a accepte un poste de professeur et de directeur au musee d'histoire naturelle de l'Universite du Missouri.

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SPENCER'S EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Joseph Winthrop Spencer is probably unknown to most Canadian geologists, though the name may be familiar to some who have worked on the Quaternary of the Great Lakes region. His life and work are worth reviewing on several counts: Spencer was a native of Dundas, Ontario, and was one of the early investigators of the Paleozoic geology and paleontology of the region around the head of Lake Ontario. He was the second Canadian to earn a doctorate degree, with a thesis accepted by the university in Gottingen, Germany in 1877 (Middleton, 2003). For most of his life, he worked on preglacial river valleys in Ontario, and the origin and extent of proglacial precursors of the Great Lakes. In 1907 the Geological Survey of Canada published his book-length study of the origin of Niagara Falls (Spencer, 1907). Spencer taught high school in Hamilton, and was later a Professor at King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, but in 1882, at the age of 31, be left Canada for an appointment at the University of Missouri. He also served as State Geologist for Missouri and Georgia, before settling as a consultant geologist in Washington, D.C. Throughout his life he travelled widely, and often visited Canada to carry out further field investigations. In 1919 he returned for good, intending to live in Toronto, but died on October 9, 1921, before he could take possession of his new home.

Spencer was born in Dundas on March 26, 1851, and is buried there, in the family grave. He was the great grandson of Robert Spencer, an United Empire Loyalist and pioneer settler in Stamford township, Upper Canada (now Niagara Falls, Ontario). Spencer's father, Joseph, and his uncle, Benjamin (sons of Adam Spencer, ?1775-1815), moved to Dundas about 1828, and in 1834 his father built the Gore Grist Mills in Dundas, on the creek, known ever since as Spencer's Creek. Joseph, Jr. was his only son, and Joseph Sr. died by falling from the roof of the mill only a few months after his son's birth (Woodhouse, 1965, Part 2, p.5-6). The son, christened Joseph William, grew up in Dundas with his mother and five elder sisters, and was one of the first pupils to attend the new Union School, built in 1857. He became interested in natural history and chemistry, in part because of the setting of his home, near the head of the Dundas valley, and in part because of the influence of his teacher, J. Howard Hunter. Shaw (1924) recorded that "At fifteen Spencer outfitted a little chemical laboratory of his own and was becoming especially interested in the chemical characters of the minerals, rocks, and waters of the region in which he lived. At sixteen he was attempting quantitative analysis and all the while making short field trips, commonly with his teacher, who shared his enthusiasm ..."