Oliver Wells was born in 1907 at Edenbank Farm in Chilliwack, British Columbia. He was the sixth of seven sons of Edwin and Gertrude (Kipp) Wells. Edenbank Farm was the home of five succeeding generations of the Wells Family, who were known for their progressive agriculture practices and leadership in Chilliwack's community affairs.
Wells grew up to be an amateur historian and ethnologist. He was president of the Chilliwack Historical Society from 1957 until his death in 1970. He recorded numerous interviews with native elders and was instrumental in reviving traditional native crafts as an economic enterprise. He died in 1970, but in an anthology of his research and writings, “The Chilliwacks and Their Neighbors,” was published in 1987.*
*The information for this biographical sketch was gathered from the finding aid for the Edenbank Farm Fonds housed at the Chilliwack Museum and Archives, and from “The Chilliwacks and Their Neighbors” by Oliver Wells, edited by Marie Weeden, Ralph Maud and Brent Galloway and published in 1987 by Talon Books.
From the guide to the Oliver Wells oral history interviews, 1958-1968, (Western Washington University Heritage Resources)
