Edward Faraday Odlum (November 27, 1850 – May 4, 1935) was a Canadian geologist, educator a businessman. He studied the ethnography of the people of Australia and Northern Europe, and investigated the Stone of Scone.[1]
Contents |
He was born November 27, 1850 in Tullamore, Ontario
He taught college in Ontario and Vancouver. He installed the first electric arc lighting and the first telephone in Vancouver and authored A History of British Columbia in 1906.[2] He invested in real estate in Grandview–Woodland area and used the proceeds to finance his ethographic expeditions.[2] Odlum shared the British Israelite beliefs and was a lay Methodist preacher.[1]
He died on May 4, 1935 in Vancouver, Canada.
Odlum made microscopic examinations of the Stone, comparing it to similar stone from Scotland (including Iona and the quarries of Ireland) and found them dissimilar, and intrigued with the idea of a Palestine source investigated and discovered a stratum of sandstone near Bethel, a geological match. A series of requests were made by him for a sample of the Coronation Stone for more rigorous chemical tests, but all were denied.[3]. Identification of the original Bethel is also an issue. [1].
A lesser folk legend holds that Robert the Bruce gave a portion of the stone to Cormac McCarthy, king of Munster, in gratitude for Irish support at the Battle of Bannockburn (1314). Installed at McCarthy's stronghold, Blarney Castle, it became the Blarney Stone.[4] Although colourful, this folk legend cannot be true if the stone was removed from Scotland 18 years before Bannockburn. Some people think that the stone which Edward removed was not the true stone as it did not well match existing descriptions such as not being hollowed out. In that case, a false replacement stone would probably have been local stone. There is no evidence one way or the other on this.
Odlum was the father of soldier and diplomat Victor Wentworth Odlum.[2] A street in Grandview, Odlum Drive, is named after Edward Odlum.[1]